


The Sound of Lightning

by LycheeGreenTea



Series: Moments Made Audible [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Badass Mama Mikasa, Badass Papa Levi, Canon-Typical Violence, Established Relationship, F/M, Family Feels, New Special Operations Squad | New Squad Levi, No Spoilers for Season 4, Not Canon Compliant, POV Alternating, Post-War, Smut, Some Humor, Some domestic fluff, canonverse, rivamika, some pov outsider
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 01:21:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28930173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LycheeGreenTea/pseuds/LycheeGreenTea
Summary: Levi has always known that someday, a day like this might come. A day that will shatter the peace that he has come to know. Peace is a fickle thing, after all, and never lasts. But it is the culmination of a hard earned life, of finding that one human who he chose to spend the rest of his days with, of bringing some actual light into the world instead of away from it, that leads him to this thought: whoever is dumb enough to come after humanity’s strongest pair, bring it the fuck on.Or, the one where Levi and Mikasa are badass protective parents.
Relationships: Levi & Hange Zoë, Mikasa Ackerman & Sasha Blouse, Mikasa Ackerman/Levi, Sasha Blouse/Connie Springer
Series: Moments Made Audible [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2169018
Comments: 57
Kudos: 181





	1. Chapter 1

Levi isn’t typically the type of man that reflects on his actions. Once he makes them, it’s done and over, and he moves on. But he realizes much later that he is glad he took the call that night after all.

\--

The phone rings the second he’s about to draw a bath to soak his tired, aching muscles in. No one told Levi that participating in the sports festival would involve excruciatingly painful nightly spars with his wife – the brutal, relentless woman that she is. She is dead set on the all-out annihilation of the parent-only competitions simply because she is that competitive.

He almost considers ignoring the call, but answers the phone with an irritated, “Hello?”

“Captain Levi,” a deep, distinctly male voice replies from the other end with a sense of urgency. There are only a small handful of people who actually still call him that, despite the fact that he isn’t a captain of anything anymore. “It’s Jean Kirstein. You’re in danger.”

Levi has always known that someday, a day like this might come. A day that will shatter the peace that he has come to know. Peace is a fickle thing, after all, and never lasts. But the thing is, he’s also finally at the point where he truly understands that the life that he has built, one filled with joy, warmth and love, is worth it. He’s overcome the guilt and the shame that haunted him for his entire life – most days, at least, and on the days he hasn’t, he has one hell of a woman to help pick his sorry ass up. He has finally started to live for himself.

And so it is the culmination of a hard earned life, of finding that one human who he chose to spend the rest of his days with, of bringing some actual light into the world instead of away from it, that leads him to this thought: _whoever is dumb enough to come after humanity’s strongest pair, bring it the fuck on._

By the time the call ends, bright headlights have already turned into the winding driveway leading directly to his home, harshly breaking through the darkness of the night. He counts four sets of lights as he looks through the front facing window of the second floor; four vehicles.

A lifetime of nothing but fighting and battle have honed his instincts and reflexes to be the sharpest edge on any blade. He moves immediately with calculated precision to exactly what and who he needs to get to.

After Levi rushes down the stairs, he notices Lian immediately. The girl is the spitting image of her mother, but the softness of her hair and the way it cascades down her back in waves reminds him more of his own mother. She is in the middle of her night time routine right before bed, getting her school materials ready for the next day. She looks confused as he searches the main floor of their home in a panic.

“Lian, where’s your mother?” he asks her in a tone that he hasn’t used since he was a captain of the Survey Corps.

The girl furrows her brow as she glances to the back of the house where the kitchen is. The back door is open. “She went to the garage to get something for the school sports festival,” Lian replies.

He curses under his breath as he moves to turn off the lights. He ignores the cries of indignation from his daughter at the fact that she can’t see a thing. Levi quickly crosses the living room and scoops Lian up as though she was still a toddler – though even he admits that holding her isn’t quite the same anymore with those lanky limbs of hers. The girl is only seven years old and she could poke through steel with just her elbows alone.

The entrance to their basement crawl space is located by the kitchen, where it’s cool enough for them to store their surplus food and preserves. He opens it in a hurry and ushers Lian inside.

“Listen to me, this is important,” Levi urges. “Promise me you will listen to me this one time in your life. Just stay in here and keep as still and quiet as you can, no matter what happens and what you hear. Do not come out unless me or your mom comes to get you. Do you understand?”

“What? Dad…daddy, you’re scaring me,” Lian breathes out as tears form in her eyes.

He knows that his child has never known violence, has never known suffering in her life. He and Mikasa had damn well made sure of that fact. They had desperately struggled and clawed their way through each and every battle, had surrounded themselves by a sea of corpses to ensure the peace that they were living in now. He would not let their sacrifices die in vain because of some fuckers who decided they wanted to threaten his family.

Levi can see the bright headlights from the vehicles right in front of the porch. The sound of automobile doors opening and closing are muffled inside.

“Promise me,” Levi urges again. He brings her close to him and places a kiss on the crown of her head. “Just promise.”

Lian’s arms cling around his neck like a vice grip as she nods her head. He unwraps her arms from him gently, and closes the hatch to the sight of his crying daughter, barely able to keep her sobs muffled.

\--

The next few minutes feel like hours for Lian. She hears voices she does not recognize, muffled through layers of wood, brick and glass. She hears cries, screams of pain, shouts and gunshots in all directions that jar through her very bones.

One of her friends at school promised that they would attend her dance recital next month. Tomorrow, after watching her parents crush everyone else at the annual sports festival again, she plans to start practicing her routines immediately. Her dance instructor is a strict lady, but one day she hopes to move with the same grace and beauty that she does.

Lian doesn’t know if any of this will happen anymore. This thought terrifies her so overwhelmingly that her body is frozen in place. She can’t move, she can’t speak, all she can do is helplessly clasp her hands over her mouth painfully as she sobs and trembles uncontrollably.

“ _Lian!_ ” the panicked voice of her mother cuts through her trembling immediately. Lian can hear her racing around the house trying to find her.

 _Do not come out unless me or your mom comes to get you._ Her father’s words to her earlier come to mind immediately.

“Mo… _mommy!_ ” Lian cries out from her hunched up position in the crawl space.

The echoing of loud footsteps take only a few seconds to reach the entrance to the basement. When the hatch is opened, Lian can see her mother, warm and loving, and she reaches out immediately for her.

It was only a few days ago that she had boldly claimed that she was too old to cry into her mother’s arms now. Lian found that she was very wrong. She couldn’t help but bury her face into the familiar depths of her mother’s neck, tears streaming down her face. Her mom strokes her hair soothingly and whispers sweet nothings in her hair.

\--

Mikasa is still cradling Lian in her arms as she moves around their home that is now filled with nameless dead bodies. None of them are Levi.

Not that she ever expects him to die at the hands of a few men, skilled as they were. While she would admit that their attackers had been experienced, she and Levi were better. But as she looks around, an uneasiness settles in the pit of her stomach when she realizes that he is nowhere to be found. There are two unfamiliar vehicles still parked at the front of their house, but between her and Levi, they had killed far more men than there were seats in two vehicles. She highly doubts that they crammed on top of each other, so she suspects that someone got away and Levi chased after them.

Fortunately, being the paranoid and protective parents that they are, she and Levi are prepared for situations like this.

\--

Much later, Mikasa is on the road in their personal vehicle with Lian asleep in the passenger seat, clinging to a stuffed rabbit that Sasha had gifted to her years ago. Personally, she finds horses far more reliable than these overseas death machines that everyone is so fascinated with these days. But Levi had shown up at home one day with this monstrosity, calling it a beauty.

Men.

And Levi has a penchant for fast things. She knows he misses the feeling of flying through the air from when they had constant access to their three-dimensional maneuvering gear. But this was the next best thing whenever he drove so fast, smug look and all, that she could barely make out the surrounding landscapes. She does have to admit to the convenience of travelling in a vehicle with her young daughter. While they had kept their legion horses, they are so old now that they can no longer race the long distances they used to during the war.

When they arrive at their destination in the city, it is close to the break of dawn and not a single soul is awake. Mikasa is exhausted and weary from hours of driving with no sleep. But sleep deprivation is nothing new to her. Lian opens her eyes drearily and brings her hand up to rub at them.

“Where are we?” she asks with a raspy voice.

“This is a safehouse that your dad and I set up a long time ago. It’s small but no one knows about it, so we’ll be safe here,” Mikasa explains. She wonders how much of this night is going to affect Lian. She had tried her best to shield her eyes from all the bodies that had littered their home, but the young girl had inevitably seen glimpses.

“What about daddy?” Lian whispers her question with a tremble in her bottom lip.

Mikasa hesitates for just a moment, contemplating the words she should tell her. “We’ll wait for him to meet us here.”

They should only really wait for a day, maybe two at most. If Levi doesn’t show up by then…

Then she has to assume that he won’t show up at all, for whatever reasons that she refuses to even acknowledge. And that means that they have to keep moving. While the men that attacked them were weak, she has no doubt in her mind that this was not random. Someone is after their family specifically, and she has no idea why. Keeping Lian safe has to be her highest priority.

They enter the fairly new apartment building, one of the first to have been built outside of the Walls. All of the cities that were once built into the Walls’ outer protrusions have now expanded outside, and some are starting to become major metropolitan areas. Finding a safehouse located outside of the Walls was convenient for them since they wouldn’t be limited to entering any gated areas.

Mikasa unlocks the door to their unit and motions for Lian to wait in the hallway while she checks inside. The unit is small, with a bedroom, bathroom and small kitchenette. It is exactly as they left it.

Even though the day is about to begin for most, she puts Lian to bed for some much needed rest, tucking her in the sheets with her stuffed rabbit.

Mikasa places a chair in a corner by the front door. She settles herself in with a firearm gripped tightly in her hand and a sharp hunting knife holstered to her hip.

This is going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter! I'm just polishing up the second chapter, but to be honest I have NO idea where I'm going with this one. I'm just really in the mood for some fierce family vibes!
> 
> Please also note that I'm writing this whole thing with no knowledge of season 4 or the manga post season 3! Even as I watch the new season in the next few months, the premise of this story will stay the same, regardless of what happens.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT (January 30): I've decided to add an extra scene into this chapter just to give the other characters a bit more interaction. Nothing that's plot relevant though, so no worries if you don't come back to it :)

It is in the middle of the night after a painstaking first day of waiting in the safehouse when someone turns the doorknob to the apartment unit. It happens quickly and suddenly, but Mikasa is tensed and ready to pounce. She has positioned herself within a couple meters adjacent to the front door so that whoever is trying to get inside won’t see her coming in the darkness.

Lian is fast asleep in the bedroom.

Mikasa already has a gun aimed straight at the head of the man who opens the door and steps foot inside. The man’s reflexes are incredibly sharp and he turns to her immediately and grabs her forearm, pulling her close. She can feel the cold edge of steel pressed to her throat, but she has repositioned the gun into her other hand in a split second and holds the muzzle to his chest.

She recognizes those familiar slate gray eyes, and the weight on her shoulders suddenly feels as light as air. Her muscles relax, and she breathes a sigh of relief before she pulls them closer to each other. Mikasa can feel Levi’s arms wrap around her tightly, can feel the same relief in him when he breathes her scent in deeply, and everything is okay.

After they have this moment, she pulls apart from him and slaps him across the face with her empty hand.

“The _hell_ , woman?!”

He’s clutching his face where she struck him like he wasn’t once feared as the strongest soldier in the Survey Corps. She shoots him with a look that would make most others cower behind their mothers, but Levi has never been affected by it.

In the back of her mind, she does know that her man hasn’t been missing for nothing this past twenty-four hours. She takes pity on him with that knowledge and grabs him by the collar roughly, pulling him in for a searing kiss. He is instantly putty in her hands and he melts right into her. He tangles his fingers into her hair and tugs, pulling out a breathy sigh from her.

Someone very loudly starts clearing their throat several times in the entrance of the apartment unit.

Jean Kirstein is looking very uncomfortable and has averted his gaze to one of the sconces in the hallway.

“I uh…hate to interrupt this but…can I come in?”

\--

A long time ago, Jean dreamed of settling down after the war with the woman of his dreams: Mikasa Ackerman. He dreamed of building a home big enough for several children, as many as the gods would bless them with. Basically, he had dreamed of the life that Levi is currently living. Lucky bastard. And of course they are obnoxiously perfect for each other. Although, he supposes he appreciates not getting beaten up on a daily basis, but he has no interest in learning what the Captain’s kinks are, so moving on.

Levi had immediately headed to the single bedroom in the apartment, so he and Mikasa are left at the kitchenette where he fills her in on everything that he has already told her partner.

A loud squeal of “ _Daddy!_ ” interrupted them at one point, but he just shakes his head and presses on.

“You and Hange were also attacked?” Mikasa asks him.

He nods his head. “Right before you guys were. I was on my way to one of the plantations I own outside the Walls, and Hange got jumped on her way home from her lab in the capital. We had just managed to connect the dots before we realized they might be after you too.”

Jean can see the gears turning in Mikasa’s head before her eyes widen.

“Connie and Sasha?”

“Hange went to make sure they were safe, them and their whole brood of kids. I was closer to you and the Captain, but you guys live pretty far from the Walls so I made a pit stop at a nearby town to call you just in case. I’m glad I did, Captain Levi says I managed to warn him just in time.”

“You could have called earlier,” Mikasa started. “Just had to be dramatic.”

“It’s part of my natural charm.”

She snorts and they both chuckle lowly.

“Seriously though, I’m glad you’re all safe. Though I guess I shouldn’t have any doubts when the two of you are concerned.”

Levi quietly exits the room he was in and closes the door behind him with a soft click. “Hell could freeze over before someone actually takes her down,” he motions to Mikasa as he walks up to them and takes a seat at the kitchenette. “The woman’s ruthless.”

“I’m assuming you had a productive day today?” Mikasa inquires the Captain.

Levi makes an annoyed face and scoffs. “Not really. A couple of the guys from last night almost shit their pants before they ran off so I followed them. It wasn’t hard to find the rest of their gang and I had a chat with one of the useless fucks in charge. Didn’t get anything except for this,” he explains as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a business card.

The card is blank except for a strange symbol that Jean doesn’t recognize with no contact information.

“Looks like the men who attacked you last night were just for hire then,” Jean surmises. “I’m guessing that’s the case for the rest of us too.”

“Probably. Whoever these fuckers are,” Levi gestured towards the card he threw onto the table. “Contacted them, never the other way around.”

Eventually, they discuss their course of action. Jean explains that he had given Hange the directions to a cabin that is currently empty and owned by an associate of his. It’s only ever used as a weekend home but the family is too busy with the business. He reasons that his own cabin might be too easy to find for whoever is after them. When they ask who his associate is, he decides they don’t really need to know that he was dumped by his business partner’s sister. Nevertheless, he insists that she is trustworthy, which that part is true. Hange would most likely bring Connie, Sasha and their kids there. It would make the most sense if they rendezvoused there to regroup.

“We can bring the weapons and medical supplies that we have stocked up here then. I doubt a vacation home for rich pigs will have what we need,” Captain Levi comments, tactful as ever.

“I take offense to that. I’m now one of those rich pigs. Also, why do you keep weapons and medical supplies here?” In fact, who even has a safehouse in the city?

He gets a deadpan look from both of the other adults in the room. He then remembers that they’re two of the most terrifying monsters known to humanity. Of course they have weapons and medical supplies in a safehouse.

“Nevermind.”

“We’ll leave at first light,” Captain Levi says, and he and Mikasa don’t question him.

Right before dawn, Jean startles awake when Mikasa comes out of the bedroom with a young girl tucked away in her arms. He swears she looks exactly like Mikasa would have if he ever knew her before joining the Cadet Corps.

“Who are you?” she asks him groggily, still half asleep and hiding half her face in her mother’s neck. Levi heads over to them from where he had been sitting by the front door having taken the last watch. He gently takes the girl from her mother’s arms.

Jean can’t help but stupidly gawk at the trio during this simple exchange. The whole idea of those two having a family isn’t actually novel to him, but seeing it in person is a whole other matter entirely.

“I’m a friend of your mom and dad’s.”

“Funny. I don’t remember ever being friends with you,” Levi quips.

“Neither do I,” Mikasa follows without missing a beat.

“So…are you a servant?” The girl deduces with what he assumes is some terrifying version of logic shaped by the Captain and Mikasa.

Levi ruffles the kid’s hair and praises, “Such a smart girl.”

Assholes.

In the corner of his vision, Jean sees Mikasa looking at the father daughter pair so fondly that he thinks he might throw up soon. He remembers a very different woman years ago, when Titans and the war were still recent wounds and not distant nightmares, broken, empty and barely recognizable. Jean remembers all of them trying and failing to help her, support her. And then he did nothing. He had his own demons to sort through, they all did. He doesn’t even know when Levi found her, or whether it was the other way around. He has no idea how this disgustingly happy family came to be. He just knows that however it happened, they deserve to have the life they built.

Jean understands the gravity of their situation in this moment. They are standing at the precipice of another crossroads. This may very well be the beginning of their end. But they didn’t make it this far just to bite the dust now.

Not without a fight.

\--

When Jean said they were going to his associate’s cabin, Mikasa expected a little log house in the woods, not unlike the one she grew up in during her youth. It was lifetimes ago, really, but she remembers their humble vegetable garden, walks to the riverside, and a home surrounded by fields of flowers.

This is no cabin.

It’s lakeside and in the woods, yes, but it is more like a mansion.

Lian is clutching her hand as Levi and Jean are unloading the cargo from the car. The young girl is weary and tired from being moved from place to place in such a short amount of time. While her child is one who has only known stability and routine, Mikasa knows that she is also strong and resilient. She sees so much of Levi in her, in her willingness to adapt, the way she perceives those around her, the way she loves.

The front entrance to the not-cabin almost bursts off its hinges, and when she sees the freckled face of one eight-year old Marcus Springer, Mikasa readies herself for pure, absolute chaos.

“ _Lian’s here!_ ” he shouts excitedly.

She hears a groan behind her from her husband.

“Oh _fuck_ , someone get me a drink.”

Mikasa can’t help but agree.

\--

Connie and Sasha Springer immediately got married after the war and now have five children. Five. Fucking. Screaming. Banshees.

The oldest one, Marcus, is already on Levi’s shit list for the way the kid ogles Lian like some lovestruck fool. He dreads the day they become hormonal teenagers. Marie is a menace to society, and Arthur is the only hope for the family but he unfortunately idolizes his two older siblings. Levi has…honestly forgotten the names of the newborn twins – he’s only met them once – but he can’t admit to it otherwise Mikasa might have his head. He’s pretty sure he can get away with just calling them the brats.

Mikasa is already cooing over both of the infants after her and Sasha have hugged it out. The brunette mother gives him a meaningful look and hands him a glass of scotch. Bless. He downs it quicker than he normally would. 

“When did you start getting a taste for the fancy shit?” Levi comments with a raised brow. 

“When wine stopped being enough to deal with six children,” Sasha replies easily. Levi is immediately in full panic mode when the math doesn’t add up. Did he forget about another one she popped out? 

Sasha snorts and points at Connie. “I’m talking about him,” she teases in amusement. “I know it’s hard to keep track of them, but you could at least pretend you are, Captain.”

“I thought that’s what my wife’s for,” he quips back. He’s stopped insisting that they quit calling him by his old title a long time ago; it always seemed to fall on deaf ears anyways. 

From the corner of his vision, he sees Mikasa roll her eyes as she rocks one of the brats back and forth in her arms. He’s reminded of when Lian was first born and the sight of her as a new mother to their kid was, somehow, peacefully ethereal and so incredibly sexy all at the same time. He’s convinced that only his woman is capable of that, but he admits that his opinion is probably biased. 

“Since you’re already holding that one,” Sasha starts, speaking to Mikasa. “Wanna help me get the twins fed and changed?” 

The two mothers head upstairs for...women time? Even after years of being at the periphery of their friendship, what they do together still completely mystifies him. 

A loud, familiar shriek comes from the hallway leading to the grand front entrance.

“ _ITSY AND BITSY!_ ” Hange wails dramatically as she enters Levi’s field of vision. “I can’t believe I forgot about them at home! Oh I hope they’re not upset at me for leaving them by themselves!”

From beside him, Jean furrows his brow. “They your cats or something?”

“Nope,” Levi replies. Hange is still too preoccupied to acknowledge them. “Her houseplants,” he sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, ashamed that this is information he knows. 

Much later into the evening, once they’ve settled in and all the kids have gone to bed, Levi is on his fifth glass of scotch. He’s not a heavy drinker by any means, but he literally can not handle the Springer family without alcohol. It was good to see Lian act more like herself with other kids around, a stark contrast to the sullen mood she has been in all day. And that is his only consolation for enduring this shit.

Hange makes a humming noise from beside him at the large kitchen table. “I think I’ve seen this symbol before somewhere,” she mumbles to herself as she presses the card between her thumb and index finger. “Not really sure though. Maybe from one of the books at my lab?”

“Great,” Connie drawls out sarcastically as he leans precariously in his chair. “That sure helps us figure out who attacked us.”

Sasha sighs tiredly from her spot and lectures him, “We don’t need your negativity right now.”

Connie visibly deflates at that. “Sorry, it just pisses me off that some guys probably ransacked our whole house right after we left,” he says with his fists clenched.

“I know, but we’re lucky that Hange even got to us when she did. We couldn’t have handled a bunch of attackers like the Captain and Mikasa; we have five kids. At least we’re alive and safe. That’s what matters,” Sasha argues. Everyone is able to at least agree with that.

“Do you think whoever hired the guys to attack us are only after the old special ops squad?” Jean muses to himself out loud. “Well, those of us who are still alive and kicking anyways.”

As soon as he says it, Jean visibly flinches and looks straight at Mikasa, who is seated on the other side of Levi. She remains as still and silent as the dead, seemingly lost in her own thoughts. But Levi knows she heard what was just spoken, the implications of it. The notable absence of Eren Yaeger and Armin Arlert in this gathering of individuals will always weigh heavily on them. Years ago, comments like this crippled her for days.

“It seems reasonable to assume that, given the group that’s sitting here right now,” Levi agrees, keeping the conversation going. “Which doesn’t exactly help us narrow down the list. We made plenty of enemies back in the day.”

“I still have contacts who might be able to help us track them down,” Hange supplies helpfully. “Or at least have a better idea than we do about who they are.”

“Well, that’s the only start we have,” Levi quips as he rubs his temples.

From across the table, Jean’s voice breaks through their conversation and he is looking directly past Levi. He turns around to follow his line of sight, and sees the familiar onyx hair of his daughter poking around the corner of the entryway.

Lian hesitates for just a second once she realizes she has the attention of the entire room. “I can’t sleep,” she admits.

Mikasa gets up from her seat and takes the smaller hand in her own. She only takes a single step towards the hallway before she halts and turns back around. 

“Aw, Mikasa, you can let the munchkin stay with us,” Hange stops her and Lian is already running into the eccentric woman’s lap. “She needs every chance she can get to spend time with proper adults so she won’t turn out to be an uncultured savage like her dad,” she remarks, poking Lian’s sides and getting a giggle out of the girl.

“Fuck off, three-eyes.”

“ _Levi,_ ” Mikasa shoots him an icy glare as she sits back down.

“Not like she won’t be hearing it all when she grows up anyways,” he shrugs casually and his woman rolls her eyes at him. He slings his arm across the back of her chair.

“Well I’m trying to raise her to be a civilized member of society,” Mikasa states and she arches a delicate brow at him.

“Oh, so you mean the exact opposite of you and your violent tendencies?” Levi retorts. He gets a smack to his gut as a reward. He’s pretty sure there is irony somewhere here.

“Gross, not in front of your kid,” Hange remarks as she places a hand in front of Lian’s eyes. She ignores the indignant protests of the seven-year old in her lap.

As the adults in the room discuss their next course of action – not that they have many options to discuss – Lian seems content to simply sit with them and listen. Levi knows she understands more than she lets on, even at such a young age.

“All of my contacts are in the city. I can go tomorrow since we’re not too far from it,” Hange offers.

“You probably shouldn’t go on your own though,” Jean chimes in.

“Then someone can come with me,” Hange agrees as she places Lian in Levi’s lap, sits up and stretches. “But for now I’m gonna call it a night. We can figure out those details in the morning when we’re rested.”

At that exact moment, everyone sitting at the table hears screaming from upstairs. Connie and Sasha immediately groan like the long-suffering parents they are.

“This place better be big enough so I don’t have to hear that all night,” Hange remarks as everyone gets up from their seats and leaves the room.

Later, Levi slumps into the bed that is unsurprisingly plush and high-quality. Everything about this place screams wealth, from the large spaces to the fine furniture. While he appreciates some luxuries, he prefers the comforts of simplicity over stifling opulence. Despite the manor having more rooms for each of them to choose twice, Lian refuses to sleep in a separate bedroom and instead wants to sleep with her parents. The mattress is more than large enough to fit the three of them, so she sleeps sandwiched between him and Mikasa.

“Levi?” his wife whispers to him in the darkness. He can hear shuffling in the sheets and feels her hand reach out to touch him. He grabs it and pulls her hand to his face, placing his lips to her knuckles.

“I’m here,” he replies. He falls asleep listening to the steady inhale and exhale of her soft breaths.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading! I would like to think that I've caught some of your interest at this point! I have most of chapter 3 worked out, and I can confirm at this point that there will be eventual smut haha! I'll be changing the ratings as necessary! Please give a kudos if you like this or let me know what you think in the comments below!
> 
> Cheers!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went and updated chapter 2 and added a new scene! Nothing plot relevant, but I added some more team interaction if you're interested in going back :)
> 
> Also...this chapter contains smut xD I've changed the rating now as well!

“Ms. Kinkade?”

The young woman is in the middle of stretching out her back muscles when the boy calls out to her. 

“My dad’s here now!” 

Sure enough, the man in question is standing at the entrance to Nadia’s second grade classroom, ready to pick up his son after another day of school. The boy runs to his dad, gives him a quick hug, then hurries to put on his coat and grab his backpack. As always, he is the last to be picked up since his father is a widower and works late. 

Nadia walks over to the boy’s father and strikes a conversation with him while her student is still getting his coat on. The zipper seems stuck, but she’ll give him a couple minutes to make his own attempts before she goes to help. 

“I hear you won first place at yesterday’s sports festival,” Nadia remarks with a smile. “Congratulations.”

The man chuckles embarrassedly, a slight flush creeping up his face. “Thank you, but...I don’t feel like I deserve it,” he starts, but hesitates for just a moment as he gives a quick glance to his son. “Not with the real competition missing.”

The teacher gives a sad nod. Her entire classroom has been missing the presence of their star pupil and dear friend to most of the other children. 

“I do hope they’ll be found soon. Such a tragedy,” the father remarks. 

It’s been all over the news in their community, which granted, is a very small coastal town. But things like this only happen in the hustle and bustle of the big cities within the Walls, not out in these rural communities. Nadia bids her farewells to the father-son pair before she heaves an exhausted sigh. 

Someone unfamiliar clears their throat from the entrance to her classroom. 

“Apologies for the intrusion, miss, but you seem to be the only one left here,” a man says. 

The other teachers and staff are usually gone by this time of the evening. The man is middle aged and wearing a fairly standard suit with respect to men’s fashion these days. He’s not very remarkable at all, save for the scar on the left side of his chin. 

“Can I help you with something?” 

“Ah, yes, I’m a researcher from the capital. We’re interested in looking into child development,” he begins, and continues to drone on about things she really does not care for. Something about this man seems very...unsettling to her. Nadia gets the impression that he is not who says he is. 

“And by gaining knowledge of typical development, our goal, eventually, will be to try and help the poor children who are mentally disturbed,” he finishes. 

This makes Nadia’s blood boil immediately. “Children are not _disturbed_ , some may be a little different, but who can even judge what that is? They just need love, same as any child,” she argues firmly. 

“Yes, yes, of course,” he agrees, but she gets the sense he doesn’t mean it. “May I ask you something?”

Nadia would prefer if he left and perhaps took that stick out of his...well, she is a professional, and regards herself as the well-mannered woman her mother taught her to be. She gestures for him to go on. 

“I’ve only been in town since yesterday, but everyone seems so uneasy. Is there a reason why?”

“I’m surprised you haven’t heard, it’s been the talk of the town,” Nadia remarks. “One of the families in our community has gone missing. The police are saying they were attacked, there were dead bodies everywhere in their house.”

“My goodness, that is quite shocking. Does anyone have any idea where they might be?” 

The uneasy feeling has come back to her, but she continues, “Who knows? Knowing them, they’re perfectly unharmed and gone with the wind.”

“You seem to know them personally?”

“In a way, I suppose,” she says slowly. “The mother coaches a few of the school’s sports teams, and their daughter is in my class.”

The way the man’s eyes widen with triumph sends a shiver down her spine. He latches on to this immediately.

“Is that so?” 

He seems far too interested in this conversation topic. Was this the real reason he came? 

“I think I’d like to ask you to leave now,” Nadia says using a firm, authoritative voice that she reserves for her most unruly students. 

“Of course, you must be terribly busy, getting ready for another day tomorrow and all. Please do consider my request to observe some of the children in your classroom, or perhaps if you may pass on my information to the other teachers,” he suggests as he hands her his business card. 

Not a chance in hell. 

She walks him out to the entrance of the school. He stops at a display in the hallway. Nadia’s blood freezes cold. A photographer from the city had come at the beginning of the school year to take photos of every class. All the students were so excited at the idea of getting a real picture taken, and the parents had gotten everyone dressed up for the big day. 

The man stares straight at her class photo, and she sees herself next to her eleven students, all standing neatly in two rows. Lian Ackerman is in the front smiling happily beside some of her friends. She is hard to miss in the group as she takes on many of the foreign features of her mother. 

“Some of this technology coming from overseas has been so exciting. Who would’ve ever imagined a device that can capture someone’s likeness like it was real?” he comments. 

“Have a great rest of your day,” Nadia clenches through her teeth instead, motioning for the door. 

He leaves looking far too pleased for her own liking. 

\--

The first rays of sunlight have barely started to peek through the curtains when Mikasa wakes from slumber. She isn’t exactly a morning person and typically prefers to sleep in when she can, but this is clearly not one of those mornings. She opens her eyes to big, innocent slate gray irises staring right back at her just a few inches from her face. 

“Morning cuddles?” Lian asks hopefully. 

Behind Lian, Levi is still fast asleep on his side turned towards them. He’s probably tired from getting up in the middle of the night for his turn on watch duty. She presses a quick kiss to Lian’s forehead and whispers, “Try not to wake your father.”

Levi never used to get any sleep at all, not with all his recurring nightmares. Before Lian was born, he would sometimes wake up screaming and soaked in sweat, and she would hold him until reality came back to him. Gradually, he started getting fewer nightmares, started sleeping through the night more often. And now he can at least say that he sleeps through more nights without nightmares than with. 

Mikasa pulls her baby girl closer to her and tucks her head under her chin. She feels those small arms wrapping around her and begins stroking her hair. This is a rare moment, even for when there wasn’t any threat of danger to their family. Their schedules have become busier over the years, especially once Lian started school and dance lessons. These are moments she cherishes, ones she hopes she’ll be able to look back on fondly one day when Lian has grown into a beautiful adult. 

“Mommy?” Lian whispers into her neck. “Do you and daddy have to fight bad guys soon?” 

She has to carefully construct her thoughts before she can answer. “I don’t really know. Maybe.” 

Probably. She doesn’t want to admit that to her ever-hopeful, innocent little baby. 

“I’m scared,” Lian admits, and Mikasa has to strain her ears just to make out what she says. 

“Me too, and that’s okay,” Mikasa begins. “As long as we have each other, everything will be okay.” 

She hears the cracks and pops of aging joints being stretched out, a distinctly masculine groan and knows that her husband is awake.

“The hell are you two yammering on about this early in the morning?” 

As Levi sits up in bed to lean against the headboard, Lian is already trying to climb into his embrace and giggles. 

“You’re getting old, daddy,” she tells him matter-of-factly. “All your bones are cracking.”

“I don’t get any damn respect around here,” Levi complains with a light-hearted chuckle, clearly not even slightly offended. 

Mikasa sits up along with them and awkwardly leans over the fidgeting girl to lean her head on Levi’s shoulder. They spend the rest of the early morning in bed, cozied up as their small family of three. None of them want to leave the warm, peaceful bubble that they have created for the cold unknown of reality. 

\--

Somehow, the men stay behind to babysit the kids and the women leave to Get Work Done.

Jean Kirstein is not prepared or equipped to handle Connie and Sasha’s three older menaces while Connie is completely preoccupied with their twins upstairs. Lian is the only breath of fresh air in the entire household as her father, the coward, went to do a fucking perimeter check like he wasn’t just making excuses to get some free childcare.

The first minute, he thought, maybe he could handle this. He’s a war veteran, had survived Titans for crying out loud. He could keep four children out of trouble for at least the morning.

At five minutes, he starts to panic when Marie is literally ripping through some very expensive looking albums in a living room that belongs to Jean’s very wealthy ex-girlfriend.

At ten minutes, Arthur starts chewing on an intricate looking piece of artwork that was displayed on an ornate marble stand that he has knocked over.

After a half an hour, Jean has taken out and prevented over a few dozen fires, mostly figuratively but one incident was literal after he started smelling gas from the kitchen stove. He is covered in dust and filth from head to toe, his shirt is wrinkled and ruffled, his tie is in disarray, and his knees hurt so damn much from kneeling.

Levi, the traitor, walks into the scene looking pristine as usual and raises one judgmental brow in his direction. He scoffs and heads straight into the battlefield that is the living room.

Jean secretly hopes to see the ex-Captain devolve into the state that he is currently in, but of course, _of course_ he doesn’t. Figures.

Levi finds a sturdy looking blanket tossed over one of the living room sofas and throws it on the floor. He then goes to wrangle Marie first, then Arthur and Marcus by the scruffs of their shirts and tosses one of the kids into the blanket.

“Lian,” Levi drawls out with his indifferent tone.

The dark-haired little girl giggles, closes the book that she’s been reading and rests it on a nearby table, then runs to her father. She clearly knows more than Jean. Levi swiftly reaches out to grab all four corners of the blanket where he had unceremoniously dumped Marie into, and he lifts it up off the ground and begins swinging it around, squealing girl and all.

And just like that, all the kids in the room have been suddenly occupied by what is apparently the greatest game to ever have been invented. When Levi is done with one kid, he bodily throws them across the room onto the couch, and the next one comes begging for a turn. Lian has taken it upon herself to ruthlessly tickle whoever is in the blanket any chance she gets, which prompts the other three to also do the same.

Jean just stands there and gapes at the entire ordeal like the intelligent, mature adult that he has become.

Connie appears next to Jean. The other man has bags under his eyes and his overgrown five o’clock shadow needs some serious upkeep, but he supposes that any person with five hell-spawns would look that sleep deprived.

“You’ve never seen the Captain around kids, huh?” Connie comments absentmindedly. Both men are simply watching from the sidelines. “Honestly, I’m…still not used to it. Don’t think I ever will be.”

Jean can certainly see where Connie is coming from. If someone had told him years ago that he would one day witness the famous Captain Levi having fun with laughing children, one of them his own daughter, he would have laughed until he passed out.

By the time lunch comes around, the kids are completely breathless and rosy-cheeked. Marcus and Lian, being older, are slightly more well-mannered but Marie and Arthur scarf down their meals with such rigor Jean is slightly concerned they might choke.

“Toddlers are the worst age to deal with,” Levi comments with disgust as he observes the same scene before him.

Lian stops chewing, swallows quickly and immediately turns to him. “But you said I was the most adorable princess at that age,” she argues.

“Of course you were,” he replies easily and reaches out to ruffle her hair. “You still are. And if any fucker ever tells you otherwise you just tell daddy and I’ll beat the shit out of them.”

“Mkay,” she responds happily, swinging her legs beneath her.

Jean and Connie both choke on their food.

\--

Falman is a former officer of the Military Police turned bartender in the post-Titans and post-war era. What Hange knows is that he was not a very high-ranking soldier in the interior, but he has since proven to be well-informed on most if not all current events. 

That is why she is currently in his empty bar - it’s still too early for any customers to be around - with Sasha and Mikasa keeping an eye on her position from the coffee shop across the street. 

“Yeah I recognize this,” the disgruntled man says while still staring at the symbol on the card. “It represents a group of Titan worshippers that popped up a while ago. I haven’t heard much about them, not even where they’re located.” 

Hange regards the man carefully. He’s been polishing the same glass the entire time she’s been here. “I have no idea how they could be related to our attackers. What else aren’t you saying?” 

Falman keeps polishing the damn glass and remains quiet. Hange sighs. 

“What do you want?”

“What do you have to offer?” he replies without missing a beat. 

It takes several minutes of frustrating negotiating. The bartender only looks like a pushover, but he’s truly quite relentless. Hange supposes he wouldn’t have a reputation for brokering information without that trait. He sucks her dry each time. 

“News has it there’s been a bunch of kidnappings in Mitras lately,” Falman starts. Hange’s eyebrow twitches.

“I already know that. I live in the capital now, remember? That’s where my lab is.” 

“Well, my sources are saying that there’s a group of scientists responsible for these kidnappings, using them for all sorts of nasty experiments,” he gives her a pointed look with a brow arched. 

“Don’t look at me. I’m one of the good ones.” 

“You’re all a nuisance, if you ask me. Always poking your damn noses into stuff where it don’t belong,” Falman says. “Anyways, I can’t say what they’re doing, but rumor has it your guys have been hanging out with these scientists a lot lately. And I’m talking frequent meetings, big deals over who knows what.”

Falman gives another meaningful look at the symbol on the card. 

“Now what would a bunch of Titan worshippers be doing with scientists?” 

That was quite the loaded question if Hange would care to admit it. She heaves a frustrated sigh. 

“And that’s all you got for me?”

“Afraid so. This lot tends to keep to themselves,” Falman says with a shrug.

When Hange leaves the bar, she can’t help but think she just got ripped off. 

\--

“Mitras, huh?” Levi asks as he absentmindedly taps the rim on his teacup. “And this man, Falman, are his sources reliable?”

“It may not have been much, but he only gives out reliable intel,” Hange vouches for the ex-unicorn. 

Everyone except for Connie and Mikasa have clustered into a large office in the manor where they are currently meeting. Since it’s still the middle of the day, someone has to keep an eye on all of the kids who have taken up the living room to be their space. 

“So we have scientists and Titan worshippers connected to the kidnappings in the capital. Why would they hire anyone to attack us? It didn’t seem like the guys after me were trying to kidnap me, they were trying to _kill_ me,” Jean says with his fingers pressed against his chin in thought. 

“I’m as lost as you are there,” Hange starts. “We must be a threat to them somehow.”

“We won’t know anything for sure until we look into this more,” Levi says. “I’m not one to sit idly by waiting to be attacked again. I say we take the fight to them in Mitras and figure out why they even want us dead.” 

“But if we start taking an offensive in Mitras, I don’t think we should bring six children with us there. It’ll be too dangerous,” Sasha interjects. 

“Some of us will have to stay here with the kids,” Levi nods his head and agrees. 

After some discussion, they decide that the best group to go to Mitras will be Hange, Levi, Mikasa and Jean. Sasha’s heightened senses and skills would have been useful on the mission, but her two newborns need her more. Sasha and Connie are the best equipped to handle their own children, and Sasha insists that having Lian will not be any different from their normal chaos. Honestly, the well-behaved girl will likely be more helpful. 

\--

Mikasa knows immediately that something is wrong when Levi pulls her aside to an empty sitting room while the others are cooking dinner. He puts his hands in his pockets and looks at her with dead serious eyes.

“I think you should stay here with Connie, Sasha and the kids,” Levi says bluntly, getting straight to the point. 

Mikasa feels a tense, heavy pit in her stomach drop and her blood is boiling with rage immediately. 

“ _What the hell?_ ” 

“Just hear me out-”

“ _No_ , I’m _not_ fucking staying behind like some helpless, frail _flower_ that can’t keep up with the big, strong men. I’m better than-”

“ _I know that_ , gods, woman, just listen to me,” Levi responds exasperatedly. “I’m saying that you need to stay here to protect Lian and everyone else. _Because_ you’re fucking strong. What if this place gets attacked while we’re gone? Connie and Sasha can’t fight and keep six kids alive.”

Somewhere in her mind, Mikasa does see his point, but she’s too angry to admit to it. She counters. 

“And you and I are strongest together. When we fight together we’re unstoppable. We’re going to need that in Mitras, where we _know_ there’ll be a much higher chance of danger.” 

Levi crosses his arms and stares at her silently, not taking back what he said. 

She knows he sees her point too, but they’re both too stubborn and angry to admit to it. She leaves the room fuming and slams the door shut behind her. 

\--

Dinner had been an awkward affair for all the adults present. Everyone had been able to feel the tension in the air, but simply chose not to address it. For whatever reason beyond her, Mikasa thinks of a time when she and her comrades first put on those iconic Survey Corps uniforms, and she still saw Levi as the asshole Captain that had beat Eren to a bloody mess. But that was a long time ago. 

The ebony haired woman is just finishing up with bathing Lian. It’s still a little early for bed, but she had promised her daughter earlier that she can spend some time in the evening with the Springers on their side of the manor - everyone else chose rooms on the opposite end to avoid crying infants throughout the night. Lian will be too tired for a bath later on. 

After Mikasa gets the young girl dressed in some comfortable clothes, she realizes how utterly drained she is. She’s been nothing but on edge for days since the attack, stressed and worried beyond belief, and now she’s angry and upset and she is emotionally exhausted. She could go for a bath herself, if only to release all the tension from her neck and shoulders. It’s moments like these where even she starts feeling her age. 

“Have fun tonight, but be good for Sasha and Connie,” Mikasa tells Lian and gives her a light squeeze before watching her run out of the room. 

A bit later, when Mikasa has headed back downstairs to the living room to unwind a little, Levi walks in carrying a pouch and two cups of what she assumes is tea. The tenseness in her stomach returns when she sees him, and she stares at a random spot by the fireplace with a frown on her face. 

Levi places one of the cups on the coffee table next to her and walks behind her, placing the pouch on her shoulders. Mikasa immediately feels warmth sink into her tight muscles from the heat pack, and she feels some of the tension in her body deflate. He leaves without saying a word, and she catches a whiff of the chamomile tea he brought her. 

She never has been able to stay angry at him for very long, the thoughtful, considerate jerk that he is. 

\--

A long time ago, Armin had explained something called equilibrium to his childhood friends. Mikasa had barely paid attention at the time and she doubted that Armin cared much; he simply needed to ramble on about whatever it was that had been in that genius mind of his. But she remembers that it is the idea that there is always an optimal balance for a system to maintain. 

Mikasa thinks that her relationship with Levi is a lot like that, and over the years they keep pushing and pulling to maintain their equilibrium. There have been many moments that keep knocking over their balance, some small, some more significant, some caused by them, some caused by things that they had no control over. 

Right now, they are definitely out of equilibrium.

But the thing is that they have always worked together to keep going back to the state that is their natural balance, whatever it is at the time. It has always been a conscious effort made by the both of them to act as a team, a partnership. They chose each other, long ago, to always work together.

It is this drive to reach their equilibrium that is pushing Mikasa forward over the threshold of the office that she knows Levi is in. He is clutching his teacup in one hand as he stands next to the desk with newer, updated maps of the Walls and the island. 

He makes no indication to acknowledge her presence, but she catches the quick glance he casts over to her before focusing on the maps again. Mikasa simply strides over across the other side of the desk where she knows he sees her. She very, very slowly starts undoing the buttons of her blouse, gradually revealing her collarbone, the full mounds of her cleavage, the flat lines of her stomach. 

Whatever map Levi had been so fully focused on before, it has gone out the window of his brain and his attention is now fully on her. Mikasa continues to slowly finish undressing, her blouse flies on top of the desk, then her skirt, her brassiere, and underwear. She does all this without looking away from his intense slate gray eyes. She gains more confidence when she notices how his pupils have blown wide, by the shallowness of his breaths, the growing tent under his belt. 

They have always been big fans of fighting then fucking. 

They’re on each other within seconds, his calloused hands searching every inch of her body freely without any cumbersome clothing in the way. She loves the feeling of being completely bare before him when he’s still polished and dressed. It’s a vulnerability that she would only ever show to him, and him alone. His lips leave a blazing trail along her jaw, down her neck, and into the dip of her collarbone. Mikasa runs her fingers along the tight muscles of his biceps, over his broad shoulders, up the strong lines of his neck and into his hair. When she tugs on the strands at the back of his head she pulls a strangled groan from him, and he swiftly encircles his hands around either side of her thighs and lifts her up. 

Levi reaches over the desk to shove everything off, pushes her down on its surface and is on top of her in mere moments. She grabs the collar of his shirt roughly and pulls him down to her, crashing their lips together in a battle of teeth and tongues. His fingers pinch her nipples using just the right amount of pressure, and the jolt of pain mixed with pleasure makes her sigh breathily. Mikasa is feeling more impatient than usual today, so her hands reach for his belt buckle without anymore preamble. 

She pushes.

He pulls.

She can begin to feel them come back to their equilibrium.

\--

Levi swears that there is nothing, absolutely _nothing_ in the world that is more erotic than the sight of Mikasa Ackerman - woman worth a hundred soldiers, mother of his child - coming undone beneath him. He has had this woman countless times before in just as many positions and on top of just as many surfaces. He’s let her take him until he’s devolved into a teenager who’s just discovered his own cock, he’s made love to her on lazy mornings, has fucked her so thoroughly that she’s an incoherent mess afterwards. 

Mikasa is at the state where she can’t help the cries and moans that come out, his name on her kiss-swollen lips. He fucks her into the desk roughly, takes what he wants, grip so tight on her thighs and hips that he’ll likely leave bruises. Control is a concept that just doesn’t matter to him in the moments when they’re both so close to release. 

His woman is beautiful like this - when she’s lost all of the restraint and composure that she takes painstaking effort to maintain, has completely submitted her control to pleasure. He slams his hips into her with more force, knowing that he is the only one who will ever have her in this way, the only one who does this to her. He tells her this, or at least he thinks he does, but it’s probably more of an incoherent clutter of speech between his grunting and panting. He can feel her muscles constricting around his cock tightly as she stifles her screams into his neck. He rides her through several waves before he follows and releases himself into her with a groan. 

Levi is thoroughly spent and collapses himself on top of his wife. They’re both sweaty and breathless but they both need this moment to hold onto each other. He lifts his head up from the crook of her neck and sees her flushed face. He leans down and kisses her lazily. She’s just started to nibble on his bottom lip when they hear the door open. 

“Oh, gods, _my eye_! Someone _burn_ my last eyeball out!!” Hange cries loudly with her hands over her glasses, and she turns around and slams the door shut without waiting another second. 

Levi heaves a frustrated sigh and mumbles under his breath, “Fucking Hange.” He gives Mikasa a very pointed look. “This is completely your fault.”

“And yet you weren’t complaining a few minutes ago,” Mikasa quips back at him. She’s looking at him with an arched brow and a quirk in her lips. Such a brat.

They’re still a tangled mess of limbs on top of the desk. Levi pulls out of her and gets up, climbing off the solid wood surface and pulls his pants back up. He never actually undressed very much, Mikasa had just tugged his pants down in a rush and that had been that. He internally grimaces when his clothing sticks to him, but beggars can’t be choosers in a room with nothing to clean up with, so they’ll just have to take a bath when they get back to their room. 

He waits for Mikasa to finish dressing before he reaches out to wrap his arms around her waist, pulling her in closer. 

“You’re right,” she says into his shoulder. “One of us needs to stay with Lian,” she admits.

“No, you’re right,” he argues back. “We’re strongest when we fight together.” 

The tables haven’t reversed; they both see each other’s points, and both are equally true. There is no right or wrong decision to make, they can only try their best to keep their family safe. 

“Well then,” Mikasa starts gently. She looks at him with those big gray eyes of hers. “I guess we’ll just have to figure it out together.” 

Levi likes the sound of that. 

\--

The luminance from the full moon is exquisite in the darkness of the night, able to cut through the high treetops of the woods. It appears higher in the sky and vastly out of reach in this part of the world, this little island known to him as Paradis. He’s used to seeing it much larger, much closer where he’s from. 

“We’re ready now, Doctor,” James Sanda announces as he approaches him. Not for the first time, he wonders where the other man got that scar on his left chin. 

The scientist sits up from where he had been perched on the back of a cargo truck. 

Four squadrons of highly skilled mercenaries sit ready and armed, neatly lined up on the back of several more cargo trucks. Of course, even they are no match for the ex-Special Ops Squad he has heard so much about. Not alone, at least. 

His latest project has been more of a failure than a success in all honesty, but for this particular night will perform perfectly for his needs. Sanda is making all the final preparations, the loyal and hard-working man that he is. 

Sanda nearly falls backwards when the large cage he was just about to open starts shaking violently. One of the armed guards next to him keeps him steady on his feet as the other one looks warily at the cage. 

The scientist chuckles to himself. 

“Now, now,” he chides as he approaches the metal cage. He’s not speaking to Sanda or the men, he’s speaking to the beast inside. The shaking immediately stops. “I know you’re eager, just as I am.” 

He nods his head towards Sanda, motioning for him to open the cage again. The other man takes a steadying breath before he nods back. 

“Well then, what are we all waiting for? This is going to be an exciting night.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU so much for reading up until now! This chapter ended up being wayy longer than I thought. I've been tinkering around with it for days now, and I'm honestly still not sure if it reads well, but figured I just need to get this posted and stop being nitpicky. Please let me know your thoughts so far; I would love to know what I'm doing well and what you think could use improving! 
> 
> Also, I'd like to give a big thanks to fulminataspqr for not only being my only commenter so far but also just being so sweet and supportive! I'm not sure this fanfic would have been posted when it did without your kind encouragement, so thank you!


	4. Chapter 4

The obnoxiously high pitch, intense loudness of the alarm that Hange rigged into the manor is what startles Jean awake in the middle of the night. 

Oh good, he would’ve hated to miss that. 

Unfortunately it can only mean one thing. Years of being a soldier have conditioned him to react immediately in these situations, adrenaline already pumping through his system. He throws on his pants and a shirt as quickly as he can and bolts out the door of his temporary bedroom. 

The Captain and Mikasa have just come out of their room down the hall dressed for action, but Lian is still in her pajamas holding onto an old stuffed rabbit. The kid looks disoriented and confused beyond belief gripping her mother’s hand. 

Jean locks his eyes with both of the parents and they nod their heads at him. He waits at the top of the winding staircase for Levi, and he sees the other man kneel down to be at eye level with the young girl. Levi pulls her into a quick but tight embrace, whispers something to her that he can't quite catch, and plants a kiss to her forehead. In just these last two days, he's seen the ex-captain offer more affection than he's ever seen in their years of service together. 

Levi and Mikasa have some kind of silent conversation that lasts barely a second, and the woman hurries over to Connie and Sasha’s side of the manor pulling Lian along with her - no doubt to help the family with their hoard of kids. Jean and Levi rush down the stairs outside to the watch point they have set up. 

“What’s going on?” Levi barks at Hange who’s got her sights set through a spotting scope. 

“Enemies approaching. Just a few kilometers out. I count four cargo trucks, moving in on our position from all directions and...something weird,” Hange reports vaguely. 

Connie is just running out of the manor to regroup with them. 

“It moves like some beast, but it’s no animal,” Hange continues. She pauses. “It’s humanoid.”

Jean immediately pales, feeling his heart race faster. “Titans?” he whispers. 

Hange turns to them and looks grim. “I...don’t know.” 

The next few moments are a controlled rush to get themselves armed to fight off their new attackers. Thankfully, when Levi and Mikasa said they had weapons to bring from their little safehouse, they really meant _weapons_. They have some of the latest in semi-automatic assault rifles, shotguns and pistols, all with plenty of ammunition. He also grabs one of the hunting knives and eyes the old school three-dimensional maneuvering gear. 

There are only two sets, most likely since they're hard to come by these days with no one manufacturing them anymore. All the gas canisters are full. 

“Whoever’s going after the maybe-Titan should use these,” Jean suggests. “The rest of us can hold off however many men are in the trucks using regular weapons.” 

“I’ll take on Ugly,” Levi offers right off the bat. He’s already strapping into the 3DMG, decision made. 

Mikasa and Sasha have both just come down the stairs to catch the remaining parts of their conversation. It probably means they were able to get the kids tucked away and settled somewhere upstairs. Jean has never been a parent before, but he imagines the conflict that must come between duty to their children and as fighters. Right now, the lines are so blurred between the two that he can’t make sense of what’s the right decision. He wonders how difficult this is for all the parents standing in the room right now. 

“We don’t know what that thing is yet,” Hange reminds him. “It could be something we’ve never seen or dealt with before, which makes it an unknown and dangerous.”

“Then I’ll go too,” Mikasa claims and starts strapping into the other set of 3DMG. Not even Levi argues with her. Their chances of surviving whatever the thing is have just increased profoundly. 

They recognize the sounds of trucks pulling up close to the manor. They’re surrounded. 

They all move as the well-oiled team that they are to their positions. It’s been a long time since Jean has felt the familiar rush that comes right before a battle. 

One day, he knows that death will come. It comes for everyone. But it’ll be when he’s so old that his hair has gone gray, bald even, and he has more wrinkles than he can count. When he’s surrounded by his children, all grown up, with all their children around them. Everyone’s gonna ball their eyes for him. So yes, one day he will die.

But not today. 

\--

It’s difficult to even tell whether it’s the mercenaries or the ex-special ops squad that starts firing first. It becomes a flurry of bullets everywhere. Deep, rumbling footsteps reverberate through the ground in quick succession. Their attackers have created a break in their formation for the humanoid creature to rampage towards the manor. The team inside can now see its pale, bluish flesh as though it’s a walking corpse. None of them recognize it to be a Titan, certainly not a dumb one, and without any exposed muscle tissue.

That, and someone put pants on it. 

The beast charges through the ranks, but Mikasa and Levi become two rapid blurs as they shoot through the onslaught of bullets, aided by cover fire from their team. Levi manages to dig his blades right into the beast’s flesh just outside the front entrance, and he now has its attention. 

The pair knows immediately that they are at a disadvantage out in the open like this. They need to claw their way through the enemy lines and fight the beast away from the manor. 

Easy enough.

Mikasa calls for more cover fire at the exact moment that the mercenaries have paused their current wave of bullets to reload their weapons. Sasha is able to take down several of the ones in her way with an assault rifle. Mikasa launches herself at the rest and slices through them with skilled precision, blood spattering onto her clothes.

With the enemy line compromised, Levi takes this opportunity to take another strike at the beast, provoking it further until it turns away from the manor and starts to follow them into the treeline. 

Hook, line and sinker. 

\--

The team tries their best to take down as many attackers as possible. Their only options are to fight and kill off every last assailant, or to find an opportunity to make a breach through their offensive to escape with six children. 

Well, then. Kill them off it is. 

Inevitably, with four individuals defending a large manor with several openings, some of their enemies make it through and get inside. Unfortunately, the manor is neither fortified or easily defensible, the only advantage was in its hidden location. At first, most of their assailants are picked off one by one, but eventually with the increase in numbers, the next few slip past them and head straight for the second floor. 

_The kids._

Connie rushes up after the men who seem to know exactly where to go in this elaborate manor. He’s not the smartest or strongest, but he can tell that this is a highly coordinated and planned assault, perfectly executed. He’s also incredibly fast, which he uses to his advantage to gain on the men. He stabs one through the back with his knife, uses him as a shield when the other two turn around and fire at him. Connie takes down the other two with five bullets. 

Eh, he’s never been as good of a shot as Sasha. 

His paternal instincts have kicked in and he’s already so close, so he barges into the room that they told the kids to stay in to check on them. Connie does a head count immediately; something that a parent with more than two children can understand as basic routine. Marcus and Lian are both shaking and wide-eyed, but they’ve done exactly as the adults have asked and kept the others close to them.

Connie takes a sigh of relief when Marie and Arthur rush into his arms crying. These kids are far too innocent to have to endure this. 

He doesn’t see the stun grenade fly into the room, but he does hear the thud as it falls onto the floor. 

But it’s already too late. 

\--

This is not a fight, not a battle. 

This is kill or be killed.

Mikasa thinks, somewhere in her mind, that she’s had quite enough of the latter in her life. 

The beast is no Titan, no human, no animal. They already tried to cut the nape of its neck and it didn’t do anything. It’s a grotesque creature, a heaping bulk of muscle at least five times her size, frankensteined together by what looks like an unfathomable amount of surgeries.

But she and Levi are fast and agile, maneuvering around it through the trees, and with every powerful strike of their blades, the beast seems to wear down just a bit. 

They use this to their advantage, by striking with perfectly coordinated attacks, using their mobility and the cover of darkness. 

Mikasa rushes in first, a blaze of fury, and slices both of her blades through its eye sockets. She sinks the anchors of her 3DMG into the trees above, and the lines pull her upwards before powerful hands try to crush her body. Levi takes this as his opportunity to come from behind and land a powerful blow into its sides, cutting part way through into the belly. 

They continue their onslaught in perfect precision, perfect teamwork. No one fucks with their family. They strike at every weak point they can find, at joints and tendons to limit its mobility, at sites of major arteries, then at any vulnerable soft tissue. 

It becomes a tedious grind of endurance, but they continue their relentless attacks with unmeasurable resolve. They're a pair that comes from a similar vein of the instinct to fight, to survive, that are familiar with becoming monsters to fight monsters. 

This creature doesn't seem to know pain or inhibition, only death and destruction. It doesn't even seem to realize that it's wearing down until it’s blindly thrashing about, crushing through trees and foliage, leaving debris in its wake. 

Mikasa and Levi immediately climb to the treetops, away from the hulking beast as it rampages. It gives a deep, resonating cry and the pair winces at the high intensity scream. From the pit of its oral cavity, the metal barrel of a small cannon becomes visible, sickeningly embedded in its throat. As soon as the tip of the muzzle is at the opening of the mouth, several powerful projectiles are launched blindly in the forest. 

The pair are caught completely off guard, and it’s all they can do to try and dodge the cannon fire as they maneuver through the trees. They fly through the surrounding woods with such speed and agility they become a blur in the darkness of night. They can't afford to be conservative with their gas as they evade and propel around each obstacle with skilled proficiency. 

One of the projectiles embeds itself into the tree that Mikasa is just about to momentarily land on, and the blowback causes her to fly backwards. She loses her balance in the air and her 3DMG anchors loosen. She falls, and with the loss of control her breath is knocked out of her. It happens so fast that all she can do is anticipate the impact. Levi swoops in from the side and catches her right before her body lands with what would have been a sickening crunch on the ground. 

“Nice catch,” Mikasa notes breathlessly. 

“Do you enjoy giving me heart attacks?” Levi fumes at her in response. 

Mikasa gains her bearings quickly, hooks her anchors in, and the pair starts advancing through the trees again, giving the beast a wide berth as they circle around it. While the cannon is powerful and lethal, it has one glaring weakness in that it can only aim in one direction. Once they navigate around to its backside, they don’t hesitate to take the opportunity to strike. 

Mikasa and Levi dig both of their blades through the back of its neck simultaneously. Using their forward momentum from when they launched themselves at the beast, they cut deep through its thick muscle, into its spinal cord and vertebral column until their blades hit the metal of the cannon. While they can’t cut through that, they cut through everything else until Levi grabs the top of its head with his hand and tears it off from its shoulders. 

The beast is now just a piece of dense meat with no head and a cannon sticking up from the neck. The cannon stops firing. If Hange were present, she may speculate that the cannon’s trigger had to have been wired into the beast’s brainstem, and without any neuronal input can no longer fire. 

Levi and Mikasa jump off the beast and land on the ground right before the beast topples over and falls on its back. They both flinch and ready their blades when it starts spasming uncontrollably, but it stays in its spot and doesn’t move otherwise. They can still hear gunfire in the distance where the manor is, but otherwise the woods are now eerily silent. 

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

It’s coming from the body. 

Tick.

Tick.

“Move!” Levi barks immediately. 

The pair turn about and start madly running in the opposite direction. 

Tick.

The blast from the explosion knocks them off their feet and their bodies are thrown forward, straight into oblivion.

\--

Sasha is the first to notice one of the men carrying an unconscious Lian, bolting through the manor with one of his team members at his side. She hesitates to go after them when the dread fills her entire being up with so much fear she is frozen stiff. 

_Where are her children?_

Jean and Hange are too preoccupied firing their weapons at the enemy line outside to notice the two men approach them from behind. More adrenaline kicks into her system, and all the instincts she has as a hunter and seasoned soldier finally turn on and she snaps out of her daze. Later, she won’t stop hating herself for that brief hesitation. 

She takes a shot at the man carrying Lian, but the other one notices her movement and pushes him out of the way. The mercenary that is clutching onto the limp girl crashes into the wall of the front entrance with a loud thunk, and Jean and Hange both turn around. 

“Shit!” Hange curses under her breath. 

Too many things happen in the next minute. 

Jean fires his shotgun at one of the men and shoots him dead, the blow so powerful that it knocks the man back a couple meters. 

The other one who had been carrying Lian is tackled by Hange, and they both struggle to gain the upper hand. 

With Hange and Jean no longer keeping the enemy line at bay, the momentary lapse allows the mercenaries to make gains on the manor. 

The distance closes within seconds, and they’re on top of Jean and Hange. Sasha reloads her assault rifle and fires at as many as she can, but she knows she’s at a disadvantage shooting a long-range weapon in close quarters. 

Hange cries out when the mercenary she is tangled up with digs a knife into her shoulder. She clutches it in pain. The man leaves her, grabs the fallen girl who he dropped earlier, and retreats through the entrance, his comrades retreating with him as they lay down cover fire. 

They take cover behind whatever solid surface they can get to. The volley of bullets is more concentrated than before with all their attackers regrouping together. The second it starts to die down, Sasha takes aim with her rifle at the truck she saw them put Lian in. 

Her single bullet hits its mark, the glass of the windshield pierced through, right between the eyes of the driver. The truck stalls in the middle of being reversed. The passenger shoves the dead man through the door, and the body lands with a thud on the ground. It takes a few moments for him to crawl to the driver’s seat and he ducks when Sasha takes two more shots through the windshield. The truck starts reversing again, and somehow the man inside is able to steer the truck away from the manor. 

Sasha takes aim again at the tires, but her rifle clicks empty. Jean joins in her attempt with his shotgun, but he doesn’t have the range and none of his bullets hit their mark. Four cargo trucks drive off into the moonlight. 

Lian is gone.

\--

When Levi awakes, his body feels like it’s been crushed by a large boulder. It doesn’t take him long to remember what had knocked him out in the first place.

“Mi...ka…,” he rasps out, voice gravelly, and reaches a hand out blindly. 

“She’s right next to you, Captain, she’s okay,” a feminine voice calls out. It’s Sasha. “We found you both in the woods just an hour ago. We patched you both up, but you’re still injured.”

She guides his hand over to a still form laying next to him. When he opens his eyes he can see that Mikasa has bandages around her torso and head. The onyx haired woman also begins to stir awake, and he breathes a sigh of relief. 

It takes a few moments for him to register his surroundings and the sound of someone else coming inside the room. His attention is fully on Mikasa as she starts to become more conscious. He’s the first thing she sees, and they both reach for the other and clasp their hands together. 

“Where’s Lian?” Mikasa asks immediately. 

Her question is followed by silence. The room becomes quiet, he can feel all eyes on them. The tension in the air is so thick it envelops him whole. 

“ _Where is she?_ ” he repeats the question again, more demanding. He turns around to see that Sasha and Hange can’t meet his gaze. 

“Lian...she was captured by them,” Hange grits out through her teeth. 

And suddenly the world around him becomes some far off reality. Levi barely registers his wife yelling, demanding answers. He’s not entirely sure what they say afterwards. Something about a retreat, Connie and the kids being knocked out and Hange being injured. Mikasa starts screaming and sobbing, clutching onto Sasha for everything she’s worth. 

He can’t do anything. 

Everything is stifling. Levi needs out. 

A hand grabs him by the arm, and in his periphery he can see Hange, her other shoulder bandaged and arm in a sling. He whips his arm back like it’s been burned.

“ _Don’t,_ ” he hisses out. “I just...can’t.”

He leaves the manor, lungs begging for some air, but he just can’t breathe any in even when he steps outside.

\--

Mikasa finds him out in the woods. 

The normally calm and collected man is mercilessly boring into an old, dense tree with his fists and screaming with each strike. He tears through the outer bark leaving his hands bloody and swollen. 

As she watches her man try to physically manifest his rage and despair into the dark, cold world, she can’t help but think that this is the sight of losing another family. It looks different yet familiar each time. Time still hasn’t truly healed her wounds when she lost her parents as a child. Nor has it fully healed the wounds when she lost her adoptive parents, and eventually Eren and Armin. 

She is so sick and tired of this.

Mikasa just wants to waste away into nothingness. It’s so easy to lose herself in it when she doesn’t have to feel anything, doesn’t have to think. But then she remembers the two years she spent wasting away after the war, wandering aimlessly like a corpse with nothing to live for. She had shut out the world, then, too. Frozen, mindless. 

She never wants to live like that again. 

When she found Levi - or maybe it was the other way around - all those years ago, she demanded that he fight her, wanted him to kill her just to end it all. She suspects he wanted the same thing from her each time he goaded her as they locked fists. But instead they clung to each other, desperate to feel something, anything, to feel _alive_ again. And somehow, after he dumped her in a bath, fed her real food everyday, and she spent the nights with him enduring his nightmares, they started healing bit by bit. 

This man and the little girl they brought into the world are her family now. She won’t lose them too. 

“Levi,” she urges.

He keeps punching. 

\--

To this day, the number of peaceful years in Levi’s life have yet to outnumber the ones he spent wondering if he would live to see the next day. For all those years, he also spent them numb to the world around him. That numbness used to be all he knew; the cold detachment he always felt whenever he saw the life leaving the eyes of someone his knife had sliced through, when he heard the sickening crunch of bone and flesh of his comrades being eaten alive by Titans, whenever their loved ones screamed at his face that it should have been him. 

He wishes he could feel that numbness now. To simply just...disconnect himself from any pain, despair and agony. 

But he’s opened his heart up again these last few years, allowed himself to feel love again, love for the fiercest woman he’s ever known, love for their cherished girl. And now he’s finding that he can’t close it back up, the pain in his chest is so constricting he can’t breathe, so strained and rigid that he feels like he’ll shatter. He knows that if he breaks one more time, he won’t be able to put the pieces back together again. 

Somewhere in his mind, he suddenly registers the familiar sensation of slender, calloused hands holding his. 

“Levi,” she says his name with more emotions than he’s able to name. 

Mikasa’s touch and voice have been embedded into his very soul, it isn’t something he could ever forget. It grounds him just enough that he can form some thoughts again. 

Lian is still alive. She was taken for a reason, not killed. 

And he and Mikasa are also equally alive. He doesn’t even need to look at the woman to know that she will fight until her last breath to get their daughter back. It doesn’t matter how many people they need to kill, how many monsters. 

“We’ll get her back,” Levi pledges, his voice hoarse and cracking. He must have been screaming a lot just now.

The ebony haired woman just nods her head, and they settle themselves against the trunk of the tree tangled in each other’s arms. It’s still dark and the coldness is starting to seep into his bones, but they’re both too exhausted to care. 

When sleep comes to them mere moments later, it’s restless and full of phantoms. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is my first real attempt at any kind of fighting or action scene. Ugh, I'm...not sure if I like my writing in this chapter at all. I can't decide if it comes off as too quick and not not enough detail, but I also didn't want to put so much in that the fighting just stagnates for an entire page. I found this chapter to be the most difficult to write by far. I already have a lot of the next two chapters written out, and they're coming out way easier! Please let me know what you think in the comments below, or leave a kudos! I'm hoping to not leave you all hanging for too long here, so please bare with me! 
> 
> Thank you so much to all the support I received in the last chapter! I think the story has started gaining quite a bit of momentum now. Thank you all!


	5. Chapter 5

The mousy woman’s high heels click clack on the hard surface of the hallway quickly and aggressively. All of her coworkers immediately stand aside to let her pass as she is clearly someone with a mission. 

She stops in front of a wooden door, adjusts her glasses, and barges in without knocking. 

The two men inside the office stop their conversation. Neither of them look very pleased with her, but she can certainly say the same thing is true the other way around. 

“Miss Rosalind,” Sanda grits out tersely. He sits up from his seat positioned in front of the desk. “We’re in the middle-”

“Shove it, James,” Rosalind interrupts him rudely. “Unlike you, as someone who can _actually_ conduct proper scientific research, I should have been consulted as well.” 

Sanda’s face becomes so red he’s starting to look like a tomato. He begins his retort but is interrupted by the other man in the room who clearly is the owner of this office. The scientist, known to everybody in their laboratory as simply The Doctor, is always polished and neatly dressed in a finely tailored suit. He normally has his dark locks slicked back, revealing the furrows that have begun to appear on his forehead over the years. He takes a breath to calm himself before looking directly at her, not through her like most men do. 

“Rosalind, I know you don’t agree,” The Doctor starts.

“She’s just a child,” Rosalind stresses each word. 

“And we need her. None of our experiments have been successful, but with her we can finally make progress,” The Doctor argues back. He’s always been a man with unorthodox methods, though brilliant beyond belief. But this...this is beyond unorthodox.

“But kidnapping-” 

“You’ve never been too opposed to it before,” Sanda interjects her this time with an arched brow. 

Rosalind falters. “I...that was different. This is a young girl who has a family, a _home_.” 

“Oh, and the others just aren’t people to you or something?” Sanda retorts sarcastically. “Don’t pretend you’re better than the rest of us. Your hands are as filthy as ours.” 

For once, she can’t argue with The Doctor’s petulant right hand man. Rosalind started her career innocently naive and foolish. But she’s since learned that women in science are delegated to fetching tea and bookkeeping. When she started this path with her current benefactor, it was because she wanted to finally put her skills to use and make some real impact. 

And somehow, here she is now, complicit to the kidnapping of a child. 

“Rosalind,” The Doctor looks at her earnestly. “I’m sorry you weren’t notified of our plans, but we also had to act quickly. We have our _chance_ now, though, don’t you see that?” 

She hates herself for this but...she does. The damage has already been done. They need to make use of this opportunity. 

Rosalind adjusts her glasses again. “We can’t collect proper baseline samples with her in duress. I trust that you’ve put her in a comfortable space?”

“Of course,” The Doctor agrees quickly. “I’ve personally instructed her caretakers to see to her every need. No harm will come to the girl.” 

“We should find out what her interests are,” Rosalind suggests, and both of the men are taken aback by this. “The child needs more than just three meals a day and a comfortable bed. She’ll need an environment that has some mental stimulation. Otherwise she’ll start to show symptoms of stress and even aggression. We already know from previous tests that samples with high cortisol levels just aren’t as effective.” 

The Doctor pauses before he continues on. “You are the expert on the interaction between psychology and physiology. We will follow your lead on these matters.” 

Comments like these make her feel appreciated, valued. The Doctor has been the only person she has ever known to actually recognize her skills and expertise. 

Rosalind’s mind is now focused on the task of problem solving. And their real challenge will be to try and minimize stress levels in a young child who has just been kidnapped from her family, and is now being held against her will in captivity. 

They’re going to need more than just her favorite toys. 

\--

“Your Majesty,” the servants bow to her as she strides through the grand halls with purpose. 

Today, Historia has her long blonde locks pulled back into an ornate braided updo. She is wearing a slim fitted royal blue dress, which she knows compliments her eyes. She chose modest accessories in the morning, not realizing that she was going to have the most meaningful guests she has received in the decade since the end of the war. 

She takes a deep breath to calm her nerves. These guests, in contrast to every figure she typically interacts with in her day-to-day, would not ever care about her appearance. In that regard, there is nothing to be concerned with. 

What she is truly nervous about is the fact that she hasn’t seen these guests - people she has always considered family - in far too many years. The fault is not with them. Over time, she has realized how truly alone it is to be a queen. 

When Historia opens the doors to one of several sitting rooms in the palace, she is greeted with the sight of her old comrades in arms. Just seeing them brings back so many memories that she only thinks of in private moments. 

Hange, Levi, Mikasa and Jean stand up to bow to her, and it’s all Historia can do to get them to stop. 

“Please, you don’t need to do that here. Just treat me as an old friend,” she all but begs them. Historia turns to all the guards and servants in the room and instructs them, “Please leave us.” Her guards turn to each other and they look uneasy. “I don’t mean to offend, but if I were in danger, they would protect me better than all of you. And if they were the threat, you wouldn’t stand a chance.” 

They don’t seem very pleased to hear those words, even though it is the truth. Everyone reluctantly leaves the room and they close the doors behind them. Most likely, two of the guards will at least remain right next to the door. This is the most privacy she can ask for in her own home. 

Historia turns to her old friends now. They have all aged a little, though she knows she has as well. They are also injured, exhausted and grim-faced, the complete opposite of what she expects during an era of peace. She at least knows that this isn’t typical for Hange, as she still has brief interactions with the woman when she is invited to the many royal functions as the last Commander of the Survey Corps. Hange is her only link to the ex-special ops squad these days. 

“I take it this isn’t a social call,” Historia deduces, and correctly so. For them to come to her like this, she knows it’s serious. “Please, tell me what’s happened.” 

\--

“ _Hold up_ , wait, wait, wait, _wait_ , just...wait,” Historia interrupts Hange in the middle of her explanation. The blonde has her hand up but her brain hasn’t told it to go back down, it’s still taking a very long moment to process her thoughts. She whips her head at Levi and Mikasa and points her finger at them. “ _You two_ ,” she pauses for dramatic effect. “Are _married?!_ ”

From the opposite sofa, Jean snorts loudly. “That was my reaction too,” he mumbles under his breath. 

Levi scoffs and glares at Hange. “How is this something you never told her?” 

Hange shrugs. “It’s not like this is something that comes up during a royal dinner party.”

“Are you trying to say that gossip about the Scouts’ two supersoldiers never comes up in high society social events?” Jean asks incredulously. “I’m calling bullshit. Commander,” he amends quickly with zero respect. 

“Well when you put it that way, why _has_ it never come up?” Hange now gives a pointed look at Historia. 

“You can’t pin this on me! I’m supposed to be upset at you guys!” 

A few of them break out into a lighthearted yet muted laughter, which overjoys Historia to no end. But the mood sobers very quickly and suddenly. They explain the rest of what happened. 

Historia’s heart sinks deeper and deeper the more she hears. She never, _never_ in a million years would ever think that the grumpy ex-captain and the unsociable girl that encouraged Historia to punch Levi would actually start a family together. But just by watching them, their subtle interactions, their body language, the way they are always looking for the other in the room, tells Historia how deeply they care for one another. All she wants is for all of them to live happily, otherwise what was the point of their sacrifices? 

“Tell me how I can help.”

\--

Nadia will admit that the small home she shares with her mother feels very cramped accommodating a family of seven. 

“I’m so sorry for being a burden on you both,” the brunette woman, Sasha Springer, apologizes to her as she rocks her screaming infant back and forth. Unfortunately, this has a cascading effect on the other twin and she starts to cry as well. 

Nadia’s mother is immediately on top of things and the woman picks up the other baby, mimicking Sasha’s actions. The room quiets down now with the two women successful at calming down both of the infants. 

“This is no burden at all,” Estelle Kinkade reassures with a gentle smile. “This is the least we can do to help Mikasa and Levi’s friends, especially after everything they’ve done for us and the community.” 

That family really has helped them so much. While Levi claims to have no interest in politics and has no official title, the entire community recognizes him as their de facto leader and representative in most matters. He settles most of their internal disputes and ensures the well-being of everyone around town. Mikasa is an active member of the community, always supporting and participating in events, and the children she coaches on the sports teams all look up to her as a role model. She is also the only one who can ground Levi when he gets frustrated. 

But beyond that, Mikasa Ackerman was the one who swooped through the air in a blaze of glory to kill the first Titan Nadia has ever seen in her life. Nadia had been around the same age as Lian at the time, and she supposes Mikasa was still just a teenager, far too young to be fighting a war. But there she was, standing proudly in a salute after Estelle thanked her for saving them. She and her mother, and countless others, would not have lived that day in Trost all those years ago without her. 

Nadia’s chest tightens thinking about what they have had to endure in just the last few days. They just don’t deserve this cruelty. 

“Will Lian be okay?” Nadia asks quietly, almost to herself. 

The room stills, quiet. 

“She will be,” Sasha replies with conviction. Nadia can see the steel in her eyes. “She’s the daughter of Levi and Mikasa Ackerman. They won’t stop fighting for her. Not ever.” 

Nadia agrees sadly. 

Connie appears from the kitchen holding Marie, looking quite disgruntled and exhausted. To be honest, both of the Springers do. Some of Nadia’s girlhood friends have been starting to find men that they wish to marry, and they frequently dream of wanting several children. She’s not entirely sure they know what they’re speaking of as she watches the haggard looking parents in her home. 

Of course, their exhaustion may also be due to the fact that they have just travelled through the night and better part of the day to the coast with their five children. They had shown up at their doorstep without any notice, but she and her mother are not ones to ever turn away anyone in need. 

“We truly appreciate your help, especially since we’re strangers to you,” Sasha continues. The woman glances over at her husband briefly. “But we’re concerned we may be putting you in danger by being here. Now that we’ve at least had a moment to regroup, it may be better for us to stay at Mikasa and the Captain’s place.” 

“Won’t that be a bad idea? What if those men come back looking for you? At least no one knows you’re here,” Nadia inquires with concern. 

“That’s true,” Connie agrees. From the corner of her eye, Nadia can see Sasha giving Connie a very pointed look. “But the chances of anyone being after us out here are quite slim, with the others in Mitras,” he amends quickly.

“And if anyone does, we would much rather the two of you not be caught up in it. Connie and I are fighters, we can handle things,” Sasha reassures. 

Estelle hums in thought. “That’s not a terrible idea. Nadia and I are happy to have you here, of course, but you may be more comfortable having a space to yourselves.”

“I know the police have taken away the...bodies now,” Nadia adds, placing a finger to her chin. “But I’m not sure how well they cleaned the place up. It’s getting late, perhaps just stay here for the night. In the morning we can go over to the Ackerman home and get the place ready for you.” 

“No matter how much we clean it’ll never be to the Captain’s standards,” Connie mumbles under his breath. “I still have nightmares being under his command scrubbing floorboards.” 

All the adults in the room laugh at that. While they barely just met, they all are well acquainted with Levi’s curious cleaning habits. 

Suddenly Nadia remembers something very important, though she supposes she didn’t fully realize it at the time. She immediately runs over to the small chest of drawers in the living room meant for miscellaneous items that have no other place in their home. Everyone looks at her curiously as she rummages through the drawers looking for the tiny object, but she knows she put it in here. 

“A strange man visited the school a few days ago right after Mikasa and Levi were attacked. He said he was a scientist. He seemed really interested in what happened, and stared at my class photo for a disturbingly long time. But he gave me his business card,” Nadia explains, handing the card over to the couple.

“James Sanda,” Connie recites from the card. “He works for a lab called...Niecha?” 

Sasha turns to the second-grade teacher seriously. “And you said that he was specifically staring at a photo with Lian in it?” 

Nadia nods her head in confirmation. The couple shares a meaningful look and she recognizes the sight of gears turning when she sees it. 

“We need to tell the others.” 

\--

Hange heaves out a sigh of frustration as she slams shut yet another historical text. She’s been holed up in the royal archives for a full day with absolutely no luck finding what she came for, but then again, she didn’t think this was going to be easy. 

The scientist goes through the three key points that have been swirling in her mind since the night at the manor. Titan worshippers, scientists doing some kind of human experimentation, and the need to kidnap Lian, a child of the Ackerman bloodline. She has several hypotheses now, but she needs more information to refine them. She isn’t sitting here simply to satisfy her own curiosity. Hange has always been of the firm belief that knowledge, not power, is the key to winning wars. This is something she learned from Erwin Smith. In this case, understanding their new enemies’ goals will become crucial to their victory and survival. The texts that she has been sifting through are the most likely to offer some answers since they used to be forbidden under the old regime, but being personal friends with the Queen has its perks. 

Accessing the royal archives was the entire reason they came to the palace in Mitras in the first place. Somehow, even despite Levi’s initial resistance, Historia had convinced them all to stay in the palace. He doesn’t entirely trust the staff that roams around all day, the paranoid man that he is, but Historia made an excellent point that they are far better resourced working in collaboration with the crown. 

The government is also invested in taking down the group responsible for all the kidnappings in Mitras, if only from a public relations perspective. Most of the individuals kidnapped so far have not been of the upper class, but of those who do all the menial work for the wealthy. Consequently, the new interior police have not put in the resources to investigate this matter. Having the famed ex-special ops squad looking into this matter for them will benefit the government and make them look good. Bunch of lazy pigs, if anyone were to ask Hange, but no one really considers her opinion anymore. 

Hange quietly hums to herself. This new book seems a little more promising. She flips to the only chapter she is interested in with her good hand and starts reading about early Titan science and accidental experiments.

The door to the grand library opens, and since literally no one comes to this section of the archives, Hange pauses her reading and looks up to see Jean approaching her. 

“Any luck?” Hange inquires.

Jean shakes his head grimly. “No. I’ve been trying to find my associate’s family all day, and they’re completely gone. I think it’s safe to say now how we were found.”

It’s a pity, but maybe those pompous pigs in the government might start putting in the manpower to find these kidnappers now that a wealthy entrepreneur and their family have gone missing. Jean takes a seat at the large table stacked high with books, silent. 

“Are you alright?” Hange asks gently. 

“Not really,” the man admits in a low tone. “I can’t help but feel this is my fault. They’re good people, loyal and trustworthy. And now they’re dragged into this mess when they don’t need to be.” 

They sit in silence for a moment. There isn’t much she can say right now, and they’re already doing their best to find these scientists. Sometimes, just having the company helps. Hange knows from all the times she and Levi just used to sit there together after a particularly brutal expedition, which in hindsight, was all of them. 

“Well, hopefully Levi and Mikasa have better luck on their end.”

\--

Three knocks reverberate through the double doors to her office, and the gruff voice of her bodyguard and enforcer echoes to her ears.

“Madame Europa,” Solomon begins. “You have a visitor. An...old acquaintance?” She can hear the intonation of his confusion without seeing his facial expression. 

Madame Europa takes a long drag from her pipe before she places it back in its tray. “I’m busy. Tell them to fuck off and come back next week,” she dismisses him. 

The aging woman is not in the mood to entertain any new clients. Another one of her girls has been abducted just the other day and the damn police won’t do a single thing. No one cares about missing whores, after all. 

There’s some kind of commotion out in the hallway, and apparently she’s about to see this visitor anyways. Well, at least it will be interesting to see Solomon in action against whoever her intruder is. The man has quite the taste for smashing skulls in. 

Her ornate double doors are kicked open, and the sight before her is the harsh features of a man she recognizes from her own youth, with hardened steel eyes slightly covered by dark fringes and dressed impeccably. If she didn’t know any better, she would think that he was still a young man in his prime, but she does know better and he’s only a decade younger than she is. 

“Levi,” she states in genuine surprise. “It’s been a long time.” She motions for Solomon to not intervene in this impromptu meeting. He simply grunts and closes the doors behind him, taking his position next to her at her desk. 

“Ava,” Levi greets her using her real name. He is accompanied by a stunningly beautiful woman with ivory skin and ebony hair. She’s never seen an oriental in person before, but she recognizes the features and looks her up and down. She has decent curves but more of an athletic body, though some of her clients are into that. 

“I don’t usually take girls as old as this one, but I can certainly make an exception for an exotic beauty like her. For the right price,” Ava comments.

Their reaction is immediate.

“She’s _not_ a whore for sale,” Levi hisses at her furiously.

“I’m not that old,” the woman retorts indignantly at the same time. 

Levi whips his head over at the oriental and yells at her incredulously, “ _That’s_ your problem right now?!” 

The woman shrugs casually and he rolls his eyes. Ava takes a closer look at the both of them and for the first time notices the glint of gold bands on both of their left ring fingers. Definitely not a sight she’s used to seeing in any brothel. She can feel her facial expression morph into a shit-eating grin. 

“Levi,” she says with the giddiness of a schoolgirl who just heard the juiciest gossip. “I didn’t take you for the marrying type. When was the wedding?” 

“We never had one, just signed the papers,” the woman remarks in an irritated tone. “Look, let’s just cut the small-talk. We’re in a hurry.”

“Mikasa,” Levi says exasperatedly. 

“Levi,” the woman, apparently her name is Mikasa, drawls out in an equally long-suffering tone. 

For a few moments, they focus on only each other and the world is simply background noise. They seem to have a silent conversation right in her office, using a language of non-verbal cues that only the two of them will ever be privy to. They break eye contact only when their private discussion seems to resolve. 

“We’re looking for the location of a group of scientists,” Levi eventually says to her. “Apparently they go by the name of Niecha, but that might just be a front.”

It’s been decades since she last saw the brat, and he doesn’t even ask how she is. Though she supposes he’s likely been keeping tabs on her since he was clearly able to find her. Ava pauses for just a moment before she answers with an arched brow, “And what makes you think I know anything of the sort? I just run a brothel.”

“Maybe, but I bet you get a lot of interesting information as a side effect of having the upper class as your clientele,” Levi deduces. 

Ava chuckles lowly. “I’m sure you know all about what men are willing to say when they’re in between the thighs of a pretty woman,” she quips and takes a glance at Mikasa. 

Ava barely catches the knowing look they shoot at each other. Married folks are usually so uptight about their sexual encounters it’s adorable. These two, on the other hand, don’t seem to have much shame which both surprises and amuses her. 

“Let’s suppose I can get you what you seek. The individuals who come here trust that their affairs are kept confidential, otherwise I wouldn’t have any business. Why would I endanger my profits for you?” 

Mikasa glares at her darkly at that comment and takes an imposing step forward. “I don’t give a shit about your profit margins. We could just _make_ you talk,” she challenges. 

Solomon takes this as his cue to step in, and he looms over the smaller woman. 

“I wouldn’t threaten the Madame if I were you,” he growls menacingly.

The oriental woman actually takes a fucking step forward and gets right into Solomon’s personal space like a boss ass bitch. Ava likes her. “I just did,” she replies with a barely concealed anger that burns. 

Ava can tell that Solomon is getting frustrated by the way his face has gone red and how his breathing has hastened. She imagines that he’s used to his intimidation tactics being more effective. “I don’t wanna ruin that pretty face of yours, so you’d better stand back behind your husband where women belong.”

Several things happen in the next few moments. First, Levi doesn’t lift a single finger or bat an eye to defend his woman. He just stands there looking like he’s watching paint dry. Next, Mikasa slams her fist into Solomon’s nose with so much force that Ava can hear delicate bones and cartilage cracking. The beefy man that has always been Ava’s most effective enforcer cries out in pain, and before she can blink twice the other woman has toppled him to his knees and is cutting off his airway. 

Shit.

She should’ve made the connection and recognized the famed woman worth a hundred soldiers as soon as she stepped into her office. The two thoughts that come to her mind are: she really is getting old and Levi has some kinky ass taste in women. The brothel owner has been doing this long enough to tell when someone truly has the intent to kill. This bitch definitely has it. 

Ava hasn’t climbed her way from brothel girl to the Madame of one of the finest whorehouses in the capital without keen survival instincts. She’s been through plenty of bad situations before, so it should come as no surprise that her immediate reaction is to grab the revolver, ready and loaded, in her desk drawer. 

Levi finally makes a move after watching her like a hawk this entire time. He’s faster than she is, always has been, and is holding a pistol that must have been concealed to her chest.

Just like that, she’s a rat cornered in her own nest. 

“Ava,” he stresses her name solemnly. The look he gives her is haunted, which certainly gives her pause. “They have our daughter.”

And suddenly, she’s reminded of a time long ago when she was a stupid, sobbing girl who had just been sold to one of the piss poor whorehouses in the Underground. She was barely a teenager at the time. At first, she didn’t know why Kuchel was always so kind to her, but eventually, she accepted the older woman’s affections. Considered her the only family she had left. Her son was always such a little brat, but Ava was often tasked with taking care of him whenever Kuchel was with a client. In those moments, she could pretend that she was a normal girl again, just dealing with an annoying little brother. 

She heaves out a shaky breath and nods her head. Levi takes a good look at her and slowly lowers his gun. 

Solomon is about to pass right out. “Wanna tell your woman to stop killing my bodyguard?”

“Ask her yourself,” Levi shrugs nonchalantly. “Not like she’s ever listened to me before.” 

Mikasa scoffs like it’s some inside joke they share and releases Solomon with a kick to his chest. He’s pale, bleeding from his nose and heaving on the floor, but he’ll live. The dark-haired woman hasn’t broken a single sweat. Ava really likes her. 

“I don’t know about the both of you, but I could use a drink,” she announces as she gets up from her chair and walks to her mini-bar. She pours three glasses of whiskey, hands two to her guests and keeps one for herself. 

“One of the scientists from the group you spoke of is one of our clients. But he’s quite tight lipped about his work and his life,” Ava explains. She can see how pissed off Mikasa looks immediately. “But he is a regular,” she amends as she flips through the large, detailed logbook on her desk. “He’ll be here tonight to see Violet, and he’s never missed an appointment before.” 

The couple shares another look, one she doesn’t even bother trying to decipher. 

She already knows what it means. 

\--

Later, much later, Levi thinks that he couldn’t imagine anyone other than Zoe Hange being his closest friend and confidante.

See, they do things for each other that no one else understands. Most people just don’t get it. Hange sometimes calls him in the middle of the night when she has an episode, and she just needs to drone on about her dumb houseplants or her latest experiments so she won’t pluck out all her eyelashes and bite off all her fingernails. 

And then she does things for him like helping him torture the pieces of shit responsible for kidnapping his daughter. They make a very effective interrogation team. 

It’s really a back and forth relationship. 

The man that Hange pulled off of the brothel girl earlier is now tied to a chair, beaten, naked and bloodied. He is a fairly young man somewhere in his late twenties, and ugly as all hell even before Levi gave him black eyes and welts all over his face. 

They confirmed that he is indeed associated with Niecha, but he immediately clammed up when they asked him questions about their experiments, about the kidnappings in Mitras, and about their attackers from the other night. The man knows something, but it’s clear he’s more afraid of the people he works for over them.

That’ll change soon enough.

Levi knows that Mikasa wanted to be here. But he never wants her to become the monster that he is. She’s a hero and role model to the people. Someone who fights for humanity in the light. He’s just filth from the Underground with no moral compass. 

It makes no difference to him when he starts explaining to this fucker everything they’re about to do to him. He takes no joy out of this, but it doesn’t bother him either. 

“You see the metal wire that Hange is heating up?” Levi asks, and the man glances over at the woman in apprehension. She is holding the wire above a flame for long enough now that it glows red hot. “She’s going to insert that through your urethra, as in shove it up your dick.” The man’s eyes widen and his breaths become shorter and more rapid. “Don’t worry, it shouldn't kill you. But I doubt you’ll be able to enjoy these brothels anymore and it’ll hurt like a bitch to take a piss for the rest of your life.” 

The man starts to weep and tremble, snot dripping from his nose. Levi lets all of this sink into his head before he continues. 

“Tell me where my daughter is and I’ll stop all of this,” Levi demands. He’s already repeated this phrase several times now.

He cries and whimpers, but doesn’t say a single word otherwise. 

Anger rises up in Levi’s chest. Anger at the fact that his sweet, innocent little girl has been taken away from him and Mikasa, anger that he hadn’t been there to stop it, anger at this fucking moron for getting in his fucking way. His chest tightens, becomes heavy and burning with rage, and he just has no patience to deal with any of this asshole’s shit. He grabs one of the mallets off the table that Hange had set all her tools on and slams it onto the man’s hand. He screams and Levi can feel the bones being crushed under the force of the impact. 

He turns and walks away before he accidentally kills him and lets Hange move forward. Her face is impassive, and Levi knows that her mind has gone into a different state, still focused on her task but not quite here, either. 

The man’s screams can be heard for the rest of the night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's currently reading week in Canada, meaning I had no classes or exams this week. I've literally been doing nothing except working on this and I wish I don't have to go back to school on Monday -cries- If anyone is curious, I'm currently doing a course-based clinical master's degree plus a research thesis. (It is very stressful and I'm always feeling I'm in over my head.)
> 
> I wrote the scene with Madame Europa/Ava a few weeks ago, I think as I was writing chapter 3? It's kind of my favorite scene so far! I named her after one of my professor's dogs, Ava, who enjoys barking during online lectures. Because COVID and grad school are such a great mix, amirite?? 
> 
> Thanks so much for the support last chapter! My heart is so filled knowing that people are enjoying my writing! I love doing this so much, it's a much needed break and escape from school! Please leave your comments on what you thought, if the story is even making SENSE, or leave a kudos if you can! Thank you all again!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains smut at the end.

This is very strange.

Sasha and Connie have been guests in the Ackerman home before - many times, actually - but they’ve never had the house to themselves like this. 

So naturally, they both snoop around. 

As Sasha goes through the chest of drawers in the bedroom, she immediately slams the second highest one shut in a flash. She is _not_ interested in learning what the Captain’s taste in lingerie is. The brunette would like to just...pretend she never saw all the lace and leather straps, although she’s now slightly in awe of Mikasa. She’ll have to warn Connie not to go into that one later, if only to save his eyeballs. 

This isn’t home, but they’ve made it as comfortable as they can. Estelle had come with Sasha and Connie to help the couple clean up all the blood stains and debris as best they could. When the Captain and Mikasa come home, they’ll have to replace some of their house’s exterior siding that is littered with bullet holes. Sasha set up Lian’s old crib in the main bedroom for the twins, and the young girl’s current bed is big enough to fit her three other children. Their sleeping arrangements will be a little more cramped than usual, but it’s not something the Springer family will whine or complain about. 

She can hear Connie and Marcus both marveling from the upstairs balcony that overlooks the back of the house. Mikasa and Levi built their house on top of a hill overlooking the ocean, and the view is magnificent. There’s a sandy beach a short walk away that is so remote from the rest of the town that it must be like having a private beach to themselves. Whenever Sasha and Mikasa catch up on the phone, there is always swimming involved in the other family’s schedule in the warmer months. Life here is peaceful and beautiful. 

Some more snooping reveals a few fine, tasteful pieces of jewelry, though not much compared to most women Sasha is acquainted with back home. Sasha sees a necklace that she actually gifted to Mikasa a long time ago, lovingly polished and kept in its case for special occasions. She smiles fondly. 

In the drawer of one of the bedside tables, there’s a day planner, a very familiar and old red scarf, and some embroidery that is incomplete. She’s never seen embroidery done in this method before, it’s intricate and lovely. The brunette absentmindedly flips through a few of the pages in the day planner, seeing a fairly packed schedule with all of Mikasa’s various commitments around town. It includes things like town hall meetings with Levi, notes for speaking on behalf of some committees, coaching, weekly dance lessons for Lian and other appointments. 

But what is most notable to Sasha are the three letters, written in capitals and underlined twice, three days in a row this week: _sex_.

She flips through the pages to previous months and sees the same pattern every few weeks. She’s not entirely sure what to do with this information, so she quickly closes the planner and places it back where it belongs. 

\--

“Pardon me, Doctor, but why are we even doing this?” Sanda inquires with irritation. “If I recall correctly, they were the ones who assured us weeks ago that they would acquire the girl and kill the ones who would get in our way.”

“Indeed, they did,” The Doctor replies patiently from behind his desk, sorting through papers. 

Sanda’s eyebrow twitches. “And they failed spectacularly by hiring common thugs.”

“Now, now, Sanda, we have the girl now, do we not?”

“No thanks to them,” the man mumbles under his breath. “I haven’t seen the need for them ever since they’ve given us the serum.”

“Perhaps, but we have not fulfilled our end of the agreement yet. It is smarter to keep them as our allies by offering simple gestures such as this,” The Doctor explains. Sanda supposes he can see that point to be fair, for now. 

The leaders of the group in question are escorted through the door to The Doctor’s office shortly after. They are both wearing the robes of their order in a deep, crimson red. One of them is an elderly woman still with a spring in her step and confidence in her mobility. She is accompanied by a middle-aged man who doesn’t look trusting of anyone. The Doctor welcomes them far too courteously for what little these Titan worshippers have actually accomplished. 

It is the woman who speaks, “Shall we skip the rest of the pleasantries and see what we came here for? I doubt you want us to stay longer than we must.” 

Sanda grudgingly acknowledges how perceptive she is for her age. 

The two scientists escort the leaders of the religious order - if it can even be called that - through several twisting hallways and corridors. Their colleagues are busily working as they pass by the various labs. As they reach their destination, the hallways are filled with fewer people. 

Sanda takes his copy of the key and unlocks the heavy bolt on the door. He opens the wooden door for The Doctor and the worshippers into the room. 

“And how are you doing today, Lian?” The Doctor asks the young girl warmly. “You have special visitors.”

The raven-haired girl is sitting up in her bed with the covers wrapped around her shoulders. Sanda doesn’t think it’s very cold in this room at all. The girl’s eyes are red and puffy, glaring at every single person who just entered the room. She doesn’t say anything to them. 

Rosalind is still here as well, sitting in a wooden chair placed next to the bed. She is holding a vial of blood and putting away her instruments back in their casing. 

“I was just leaving,” Rosalind nods at each of them. 

The elderly woman sucks in a deep breath before whispering in amazement, “This...this is her?” The worshippers both approach the girl reverently and kneel before her. They both utter some words in a language that is foreign to Sanda. 

Rosalind seems shocked at first as she stands up, glances over at her two colleagues, and raises her brow in clear confusion. Sanda can see her judging the strange worshippers as nutcases. For once, she and Sanda have the same opinion. 

The woman takes a colorful box that is hidden underneath her robes and presents it to the girl almost like an offering. “For you, child of destiny,” she says gently. When the girl doesn’t make a move to take her gift, the woman opens the box for her, revealing some frilly doll with lots of ribbons, lace and _pink_. 

The girl narrows her eyes, grabs the doll by its delicate looking hair and furiously throws it right back at the woman. “I don’t want your stupid, _shitty_ doll, I want. My. _PARENTS!!!_ ” she shrieks that last word at the top of her lungs right into their faces. 

Sanda tries very hard to hide his snorting with coughs, but he isn’t sure how successful he is. He can see that Rosalind has already plugged her ears before the girl even started screaming. 

He isn’t entirely sure how these worshippers expected this interaction to go, but it clearly isn’t happening the way they imagined it. They leave within a few minutes, mumbling something about it being an honor to have been in the presence of the girl. 

As they are walking back to their labs, Sanda takes the opportunity to make a snide remark at Rosalind. “I take it your efforts are failing, as usual?”

Rosalind scoffs. “The procedure from the other day was a success. But I still can’t get a single blood sample with low enough cortisol levels, no matter how comfortable we make her or what time of the day I try, no thanks to _your_ terrifying face,” she retorts.

“Well maybe it’s not my face that scares her so much. I wouldn’t want my blood taken by an ugly hag, either,” Sanda quips. 

Rosalind rolls her eyes but doesn’t bite back. She must think she’s so much better than he is. 

“In any case,” she begins, changing the topic. “This isn’t working. With that girl’s attitude, I have my doubts it ever will.”

“And do you have any better ideas?” Sanda asks her, thinking it to be a rhetorical question. Apparently not, with the way the mousy woman glances back at him.

“Actually, I do. But you won’t like it.”

\--

Mikasa paces back and forth in Ava’s office, not paying any mind to Solomon giving her wary glances every few minutes. 

It’s been three days since Levi and Hange started interrogating the Niecha scientist. Each day, Levi comes back to their quarters in the palace looking more and more haunted and bleak. He normally keeps his appearance well groomed and tidy, but his clothes have become wrinkled and he’s let a stubble appear on his jaw. To the standards of a typical man, someone might describe it as rugged, perhaps handsomely so, but for Levi this is unruly and haggard. He hasn’t spoken to her at all even though they take some of their meals together and share the same bed. He barely even looks at her. 

When Ava comes into her office, the redhead woman looks at Solomon with a raised brow and greets her. “What can I do for you, darling?” 

Not even Levi calls her pet names like that, but she decides not to take offense to it since it’s likely just part of the woman’s typical speech. 

“I’d like to see the prisoner,” Mikasa requests. 

Ava walks over to her desk and sits in her cushioned chair. As she speaks, she fills the end of her pipe and lights it. 

“Where’s Levi?” 

“Trying to rest.”

It’s the middle of the day, but Levi and Hange have been spending their nights preoccupied with the interrogation. Their sleep-wake cycles have completely reversed, though from what she understands this can be fairly common for Hange. Ava takes a long drag from the pipe. 

“I don’t think this is something the kid wants you to see, dear,” Ava tells her honestly. It’s a little odd hearing someone refer to her husband as a kid, but she supposes it’s all a matter of perspective. 

Mikasa scoffs and replies, “I’m no stranger to tortured prisoners.” 

“I’m sure you aren’t,” Ava remarks. She takes another drag from her pipe and exhales the smoke out. 

Mikasa remains unwavering from where she stands. They both appraise each other for a moment. The raven-haired mother sees a tough as nails survivor and businesswoman who clawed her way to the top. She respects her, truly, especially after everything she’s heard from Levi. She wonders what the other woman sees. 

“You’re damned stubborn, I’ll give you that much. Though I guess you have to deal with Levi’s bullshit all the time,” she remarks offhandedly. She places her pipe back in its tray, nods at Solomon, and turns back to Mikasa with a smirk. “Once you get your kid back, you and I gotta sit down with a few bottles of wine and have a heart to heart. You have no idea the kind of gold I have on the brat you chose to marry,” Ava tells her.

Mikasa decides to store this piece of information away for another time. 

“Follow me, Little Miss Sister-in-Law,” Solomon drones out in his deep baritone voice. 

“Um…?” Mikasa looks at him oddly and glances at Ava. The other woman shrugs and makes a gesture indicating that this is not a man that’s quite fully there. 

Solomon holds the double doors open for her and he escorts her to the brothel’s basement. There aren’t too many clients in the building at this time of day, but she can make out sounds from a few of the girls as they walk along the hallways. 

Once they make their way down a set of stairs, they stop in front of an old cellar door and pause.

“You want me to stay here?” the gruff man asks. 

Considering Mikasa nearly choked him to death just a few days ago, she’s touched by the offer. 

“No, but thank you.”

Solomon grunts in response and walks away. 

\--

He’s startled awake when the door creaks open, anticipating yet another night of excruciating torture. But instead of the two individuals he’s become so familiar with, he sees a different woman, incredibly attractive. Is she one of the brothel girls? He’s never seen her before. 

She grabs a chair and places it in front of him just out of reach. He feels vulnerable and humiliated, tied up in front of this stranger, naked and sitting in his own urine and feces. She might be here to kill him, something he’s been desperately wishing for the longer the days drag on. He’s a scientist - but he isn’t anymore, not really, not when he’s more rat than human - not a soldier. He never signed up for this, and his situation is so hopeless that death must be the only end for him now. What’s the point of anything anymore? 

“What’s your name?” the woman asks him. 

He’s taken aback by this. His voice is gravelly from nothing but screaming, but he answers, “Bradley.”

“Bradley,” she repeats his name. She finds a clean towel and places it across his lap, preserving his modesty. Suddenly he starts feeling just a little more human again. “Do you have any children?”

He doesn’t. It hurts to shake his head.

“Family?”

“Sister,” he rasps out. “Parents.”

Why? Why is he even answering her? 

Maybe because she’s kind and gentle, and he just wants to feel like a man again before he dies. 

He thinks of his family now and wonders if they’re thinking of him. They don’t live in Mitras, so it’s been months since he’s been home to visit because of work. 

“How old is your sister?” 

And she keeps asking him about his life for who knows how long. He tells her about his little sister, how they used to play along the riverbanks when they were children and the Titans were still around. They lived within the interior, and even after the fall of Wall Maria, his family’s lifestyle wasn’t too affected since they had enough money. His sister has always loved to paint and create art, even now as a young woman about to be married. 

At some point, the woman helps him drink some water to quench his dry, swollen throat. He tells her more stories about his sister and their childhood, and the woman listens patiently to every word. When he’s finally done, she tells him something about herself for the first time.

“Your people kidnapped my seven year old daughter.”

Bradley can feel his heart sinking, can feel the tears start to pool in his eyes. So this is the mother. He’s going to die after all. 

“Her name is Lian,” and this time, she tells him about her sweet little girl. About how she’s been taking dance lessons, and honestly isn’t very good, but like any mother firmly believes that she’ll get better with practice. Lian loves sweets and playing princess with her friends at school. She’s normally very well behaved, but when she gets upset she has an incredible temper. That sounds very familiar to Bradley. He saw her once in the room she’s being held captive in, struggling from her caretakers’ grasp and throwing a tray of food at them. She looked scared and upset. 

He doesn’t know why, but he can’t keep the tears from falling down his face as she speaks so openly to him. 

When the woman is done, he asks her, “Am I going to die?”

“Probably,” she answers truthfully and brutally. He appreciates that honesty. Maybe he can at least die as a man rather than a rat. 

“I’ll tell you everything I know.”

\--

When Levi and Hange arrive at the brothel only to discover Mikasa already awaiting in Ava’s office, Levi’s eyes turn to his wife for the first time since the interrogations began with an intense, burning rage. And suddenly, the piercing fire of those eyes die down until not even sparks remain. They are now dull and empty. 

He turns away from Mikasa without saying a single word to her. 

Mikasa’s chest becomes tight at this, but none of the others in the room seem to notice. Hange asks whether she made any progress with the prisoner, but the question goes in one ear and out the other. When she doesn’t respond, Ava interjects. 

“Looks like she was able to make him talk,” the woman explains. 

Levi takes a quick glance at her, almost unbelievably so, but it vanishes quickly and he’s back to staring at some random spot in the room. 

They request for Ava to keep the prisoner alive and secure for now before they go back to the palace to debrief with Jean and Historia. 

It’s an awkward walk back to the palace. 

\--

According to the captured scientist, Bradley, the lab that he works for does not officially exist. Niecha is simply the name they use for any official business they may have to partake in, but it is merely a ghost, not associated with anybody or anywhere. Hange thinks this makes perfect sense since they were unable to find any information on this organization through any of their usual sources. 

Unofficially, their lab operates out of a building located in the old Underground, making it easier for them to conduct experiments on their kidnapped subjects without notice. Since Bradley isn’t a scientist in that department, he doesn’t know what happens to those people. He has given them the location and a description of the building, along with what he knows of their security protocols. 

Earlier, their group filled one of the palace’s meeting rooms along with the Queen’s royal guard and some high-ranking officials to strategise their attack plans. Now, only Historia and Jean are present with Hange. Much later tonight, they’ll be raiding the lab alongside some of the interior police’s elites. Thankfully the mission was quickly approved with pressure from the Queen. 

From some of the additional information that Bradley gave Mikasa, many of Hange’s suspicions are confirmed. But this information is far too sensitive for it to be made public, and far too personal for Levi and Mikasa to ever reach the ears of anyone outside their inner circle of trusted comrades.

All of the Niecha scientists and staff operate on a need-to-know basis only. What Bradley knows is that Lian is being held in their lab and treated well. One of their lead researchers, a mousy woman named Rosalind, goes into her room each day to collect blood samples. They had also scheduled Lian to have a lumbar puncture done to collect samples of cerebrospinal fluid. Bradley’s duties were to run preliminary analyses on her samples to see if they are compatible with some serum provided by a third-party group. Bradley does not know what the serum is but he doesn’t ask those kinds of questions either. The primary investigator of their lab is only known as The Doctor, but Bradley is simply a cog in the machine and has no idea what The Doctor’s objectives are. 

“I have two plausible hypotheses based on what we’ve learned,” Hange begins. “The Niecha lab is either trying to recreate Titan shifters, or, the experiments that led to the creation of the Ackerman clan,” the brunette speculates, pacing back and forth in the near empty meeting room. 

The couple that is associated with that name left earlier after the larger group finished planning their mission. As soon as Hange started making inferences about what the scientists may have planned for Lian, both parents bolted out of the room as fast as they could. 

“I don’t think they’re trying to recreate normal Titans. I think that the serum that Bradley mentioned is likely Titan serum, so there wouldn’t be any need to do all this experimenting if they just wanted to make more Titans.” Hange continues. “Personally, my gut is telling me they’re not making Titan shifters, either. According to my reading, the superhuman abilities that the Ackermans possess are an accidental result from experiments on Titans. My guess is that the creature that was a part of the attack on the manor was one of the first iterations of their attempts, but clearly a failure since it was more Titan than...well, Ackerman. They’re probably using the blood and cerebrospinal fluid samples taken from Lian to further their experiments, perhaps even attempt to create a more enhanced superhuman than the Ackermans.”

It takes a long moment before anyone responds. 

“They want to make superhumans even stronger than the Captain and Mikasa?” Jean asks, baffled.

“But...why Lian?” Historia wonders this time. “Why not just take Levi or Mikasa?”

“Yeah, cause that would be _so_ much easier to do,” Jean quips sarcastically. 

“Right, kidnapping a little girl would be easier…,” Hange agrees. She takes a moment to contemplate. “This might just be me shooting in the dark, but it might also be because Levi and Mikasa have already awakened their abilities, and Lian hasn’t. I would need to take a look at their research to confirm my guesses, though.” 

“Awakened their abilities?” Historia repeats in confusion.

“Another story for another time,” Hange deflects. 

It’s getting late, and they’ll need as much rest as they can get for tonight. After Historia wishes Jean and Hange luck on the mission, they all leave the meeting room feeling quite unsettled. 

\--

“Levi,” Mikasa calls out to her husband’s retreating back. 

He stops, but he doesn’t turn to her or speak to her. They’ve finally escaped back to their quarters and all he wants to do is try to rest before the raid tonight. Mikasa strides closer and reaches for him. 

When Levi flinches away from her, the hurt in her eyes is so apparent that he just wants to take everything back. But he can’t bring himself to touch her with his filthy, soiled hands. 

She takes a step forward. He takes a step back. 

She hesitates before asking, “Are you angry with me? For earlier today?”

“No,” he replies with a hoarse voice. 

Levi had been livid when he arrived at Ava’s brothel earlier, but he quickly realized he wasn’t angry at her. He was just angry at himself. Has been angry with himself since Lian was captured. And then his ridiculous woman just waltzes into that damned cellar that he and Hange had cooped up in and accomplishes in just a couple of hours what they had been trying to for days. And she never even had to soil her hands. 

But _his_ hands are covered in filth doing the dirty work that no one else will do his entire life. He’s a fucking monster. He has never been deserving of being called a husband or a father. 

Mikasa moves around him to face him. She takes a long moment to stare him down, and somehow he feels completely bare before her as she sees straight into his soul. 

“You’ve looked at me like that before, like if you get too close to me you’ll get blinded by the light.” 

He remembers. It had been during a time of never ending self-doubt and self-loathing in the midst of an unplanned pregnancy. Levi used to think that maybe they weren’t good for each other after all. That she needed more than just a broken soldier whose only skill was killing, obsolete in a new world filled with hope and peace. That he would do nothing but drag her down with him into the pit of viscous, dark nothingness that his world is made of. 

“I can feel you slipping away from me,” she whispers, voice trembling. “Please...you can’t do this now. Not when I need you the most. We’re supposed to be a team, partners in _life_.”

She looks so vulnerable and terrified it breaks his heart. Did he do this to her? 

“Would you have stayed with me if I never became pregnant?” Mikasa asks him with a worried expression. Her brows are furrowed together and he sees tears forming in her eyes. 

The implications of that statement are not lost on him. Did he only stay with her because of a sense of duty to her and their unborn child? Could they still have been able to forge a strong, healthy relationship without the light of their lives? 

Can they continue on together without that light? 

“I…,” he starts, but he can’t finish that sentence. Levi doesn’t honestly know the answer. 

Mikasa draws in a shaky breath and he hates himself for the fact that he’s the one causing her this pain. 

“I know you hate yourself for who you used to be, who you still are sometimes,” she starts to tell him. She closes the distance between them and places both of her hands on either side of his face. This time he doesn’t flinch away from her touch. “I know you’ve done horrible things, but you’ve also done so many good things. I wish...I wish _so badly_ that you could see yourself the way I see you.”

Levi almost thinks it’s laughable that he said the same thing to her years ago. 

“You’re so full of love, for me, for Lian. If you were truly empty hearted, you wouldn’t have been able to help me find my place in this world again. You wouldn’t have been able to raise such a wonderful, sweet child. You always take care of us, always think of ways to make us happy. Can’t you see how much you do for our family, for _me_?” 

The tears are freely falling from her eyes now. 

Sometimes Levi thinks she can’t be real. What did he ever do to have someone in his life that is so full of passion and love for him of all people? He could spend a thousand lifetimes wandering the world as a saint and still never deserve her in this lifetime. He feels as though he has cheated in some way. The greedy part of him just wants to hold her and keep her without looking back. 

“Levi,” Mikasa says his name with so much tender affection it makes him ache for her. “You deserve love, you deserve _us_. So please...don’t ever leave me.”

“Never,” he swears softly to her. He still doesn’t believe he’ll ever earn the right to be with this loyal and fierce woman, but he will never be the one to hurt her. “I’ll always stay by your side,” he vows. Call him selfish, because he truly is _so damn selfish_ for always wanting after everything he’s done, but staying by her side means that she will always be at his side. 

“Promise me,” she demands from him, and he has never been able to deny her a single thing. And of course she never asks for much even though she deserves everything. She looks at him with dark, intense eyes, and he knows immediately the familiar feeling of being completely at her mercy. 

“I promise.” 

\--

Neither of them get any rest before the raid. She rides him into the night, pushing him to the edge so many times he can’t even think anymore. All he knows in this moment are her touch, her voice, her _essence_. She is an all consuming force and he drinks her in like a man starved for water. The sight of her above him, face flushed with pleasure, body trembling and her perfect, perky breasts bouncing is the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. All he wants is to touch her, hold her, feel her wanting for him, but she had told him sternly right after she sucked his cock that he’s not allowed to touch her tonight. 

Gods, his wife is so fucking ruthless it sends thrills down his spine. 

She made him keep his hands above his head. She probably could have tied him up, he would have been happy to oblige, but Mikasa chose to viciously test his self-control like the vixen she is. 

If he were a better man, he would let her live a more fulfilling life with someone far better than him. But he’s greedy and selfish, and he has claimed this woman as his own. This perfect, exquisite woman who makes love like she fights, with nothing but passion and everything she has to offer. Levi can feel the familiar sensation of heat and pleasure about to burst from him, but just as he’s about to fall over the edge she pulls off of him. 

Mikasa leans down to place her forehead against his. “Not yet,” she tells him breathily. She reaches her hand down and plays with herself right above his twitching, desperate cock. She uses her other hand to squeeze her breasts and pinch her nipples tightly, and he groans loudly. The lewd sounds she makes as she rides herself sends him completely mad with need. 

She repeats this over and over again, not letting him seek any release, relentlessly driving herself onto him. But he is a prideful, patient man that can wait for her to come undone first.

“Tell me what you want, _tell me_ you _want_ me,” Mikasa orders him right after she stops grinding against him. The momentary pause of her movements around him, constricting him, makes him buck his hips upward, driving himself deeper into her. She immediately grabs him roughly and pushes him back, chiding him with a tsk. “Just be good for me and tell me you want me.” 

“Fuck, Mikasa,” he groans through his teeth. 

The intonation of her humming rises at the end, signalling a question. She slips off of him again, leaving his throbbing cock empty and aching for her. She truly is cruel and ruthless and _his_. Mikasa breaks her pattern that he is now anticipating, and instead slams herself back onto him. She tightens her muscles around him just enough to make him groan but doesn’t move a single inch.

Fuck pride and patience.

“I want you, take me, please, _please_ I just _want you_ ,” he begs her desperately. He knows he sounds pathetic but gods he just can’t say no to this woman.

Mikasa hears him and pounds into him with frantic fervor. The room is filled with the filthy sounds of flesh slapping against flesh, and she cries out so loudly he thinks most of the palace can hear her. Levi sees a piercing, white-hot light behind his shut eyelids as he follows her quickly with a long and stretched out groan, muscles tensing as he releases himself. It takes just a moment for them both to come down from their high. She falls onto him and they are completely limp and boneless. Levi wraps his arms around her, brings his hands up into her hair and clings to her for all he’s worth. 

“You’re too good for me,” he admits to her in the silence that follows. 

Mikasa lifts her head up from the crook of his neck, looks at him with something in her eyes he can’t place. She doesn’t say anything, just leans down to kiss him tenderly. 

She’s the only one who can ever pull him up from the pit of despair he swallows himself up in. Levi can’t imagine his life is worth much without her in it. She is precious and radiant, the light in his dark world. She and their child are his everything. 

_Everything._

\--

_If I could, I would give you stars in the sky._

_You silly man, can’t you see? To me, you are the stars._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was hoping to have this chapter posted a couple days sooner, but holy man the beginning of this week kicked my butt pretty hard! On that note, I'm a little amazed at myself for posting three chapters in just a week-ish! It was so nice having last week off, but I'm afraid that updates won't be coming as quickly in the next couple of months. The rest of my semester is honestly really awful, but that's just how grad school is. I'm still super eager and motivated to keep working on this of course, and I will update as much as I can! 
> 
> Now to talk about the actual story! How do you all find this so far? The premise of this story only started off as a simple one-shot in my head at first, but as I kept writing, more ideas just kept populating my brain. I'm amazed it's even gotten this far, and I'm excited for what's coming next, but I haven't ever written anything multi-chapter (successfully) in my life! I'm just so worried that everything is coming off as super predictable or cliche or OOC and just soo many self-doubts. I was reminded a couple days ago to just write what I want, which really helped, but I just hope that what I want to write comes off as interesting enough to read? -sigh- I don't even know where I'm getting at right now. I'm just getting nervous six chapters in is all hehe
> 
> Just...THANK YOU everybody for all your amazing support! I love getting comments so much, they really make my day. I really hope you will all continue to enjoy my story. I really am excited to share more and more with you all! Thanks so much again for reading all the way until now, and please leave a comment or kudos if you can!


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